One Girl Revolution
by Shade Penn
Summary: On the first day of 10th grade, Lee got blamed for pulling the biggest prank in high school history, and now has to break the rules to prove that it wasn't true. Oh, and has Lee mentioned that she's a girl?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Once again no one seemed to notice that she was a girl as she walked up the steps to meet her friends. She's stopped being offended by this and kept correcting someone when they thought otherwise long ago. If they remembered that she was girl, good for them. She didn't think it was her fault or anyone else's that they forgot as she did like wearing the more comfortable tomboy wear and kept her hair short.

When other girls at a young age had started to get 'girly' in a manner, she had stuck with school. Though that didn't excuse the fact she was _still_ a girl and as such she went through the same things they did, and had noticed boys the same time they did too. She only didn't _care_.

And Lee knew that her parents would probably flip at her having a boyfriend as they had been the ones to encourage her with continuing to get her to wear her ambiguous clothing. Her mother thought she should spend her time on school and not on boys, while her father was all for Lee dressing in a way that wouldn't let boys give her a second glance.

In grade school, middle school, and even 9th grade she'd stuck to the thought of focusing on her schoolwork, but again, she was still a girl, and her eyes had wandered as she noticed that the boys were changing too. Her friends didn't count as she honestly only saw them in a platonic light, and she was sure they felt the same; as even _they_ had a hard time of remembering that she was a girl half the time too.

At the moment, she found Cam and came up behind him to show him the picture of someone switching her backpack. "Yo, Cam, check it out; this was on the camera from the Gym of someone messing with my bag."

"Guys, guys, guys." Holger said jumping on one leg toward them as he was trying to fix his boot and fell, forcing Lee to catch him. "Oh, my hero holkin." He said making a kissy face at her and she dropped him with a deadpan expression crossing her face and the blond stood back up. "Holger hurry, no miss one minute of super disco party popular fun time day."

"Super…what day?" Lee questioned confused.

"Something we came up with last night Chica. It's about ruling the school based on your new epic prank status yo." Cam explained.

"Super disco popular fun time day." Holger cheered.

"Yeah, we're still working on a title." Cam said flatly.

Lee tried not to roll her eyes. "Guys, I'm sure most people have already forgotten about it." She said shrugging.

"No way, Essay, the Internet was on fire about your prank last night." Cam said.

"Yah, even my cousin Dorwell in Nonagon was blorgerring about it." Holger said holding up his phone and another blond that looked like him was on it and said something that Lee found unintelligible, but knew it was about the prank.

"This is big." Cam said instead. "Huge." He said and put an arm around her shoulder. "We gotta ride this wave of popularity to the top!" he said pointing skyward.

The three of them walked into the school after Lee allowed herself to roll her eyes and so wanted this whole prank mess to be forgotten. She heard a strange noise coming from a locker and the Tazelwurm hung out of the locker that opened in front of her. "Whoa!" she said holding her hands up as it hissed and slithered along the floor and the psycho cleaners ran off after it.

A football suddenly landed in Holger's hands. "Hmm." He hummed before he was tackled to the floor and two other football players whooped.

"Hey." Lee said putting her hands on her sides as she saw the football player get back up.

"Hey yourself." He retorted and tossed the football over her head and when it slipped through her fingers, the player hit her into the locker door and she slid to the floor. "He intercepts and rushes it back to a touchdown cause he is awesome!" he said throwing the football down as he made it back to the other players.

"The jocks might suck, but that clique sure knows how to roll, Chica." Cam said as Lee got back to her feet and walked over to her friends.

* * *

The morning news came on and Chaz used a pad to put powder on Tina's face, the girl's expression shocked. "I'm Tina…" she let out a small sneeze. "Kwee-"

"And I'm Chaz Monorainian, hi, and today is the day." The boy said chuckling.

"Our championship football team is holding tryouts after school." Tina said and the football players in the class cheered.

Lee on the other hand went back to looking at the grainy photo and tried to clear it up while blocking out most of the announcement.

"…So will A. Nigma's football team be able to threepeat this year?" Tina asked.

"Thanks for that; speaking of football Tina, star player Steve might have a run for his money when it comes to who's the most popular this year. According to the latest 'Chaz's Corner' popularity pole." Chaz said and while Lee was still focused on her computer, the pole depicted her with the most 'points.'

"Oh, I spy with my gootenhaufy eye, red silvery thingy." Holger said looking over at Lee's computer and accidently spilled a bit of his breakfast on it and Lee pulled back in shock. "Oh, me bad, Holger clean." He said wiping the goop away.

Lee's expression went back to borderline angry as she noticed something was actually on the picture and not just the screen. "There is something there." She said and enhanced the photo. "Good eye." She added.

"Anyway," Tina said, "in far more important news, it looks like last year's school thief is back-"

"And here's what the investigators had to say." Chaz cut in and the screen showed footage of Tine interviewing a cleaner, only it said nothing that anyone could understand.

"A championship football ring?" Lee asked herself in surprise as the photo cleared. "And a red, disgusting scab, which means whoever messed with my bag-"

"Doesn't use silky lotion to make the smooth happy hands." Holger said putting lotion on his hands.

"Yeah, that, and-" Lee stopped when a spitball hit her cheek and her expression was annoyed and saw that there was cheering from the football players.

"Field-goal!" They yelled. "Whoo!"

* * *

Lee pulled her drink back from the dispenser during lunch after it filled up and drank it from the straw as she looked at her friends from the corner of her eyes. "So one of the jocks set me up, another one wants to kill me." She said before taking another drink.

"What'd you expect, Essay?" Cam questioned. "You mess with the natural order of cool in school, you get the-" Lee cut him off with a burp as Biffy showed up and scowled at her.

"Did you just burp on my food?" he growled.

Both Cam and Holger began to back away, but Lee waved it off. "Don't worry; we're buds now. Biff, whaz up?" she asked lazily.

"Do you have any idea on how much bacteria leaves the mouth after gaseous emission?" Biff scowled. "It'd be more hygienic to eat off the floor!" he added and Lee began backing away as Cam came up behind her.

"Abort friendship mission." He whispered before fleeing.

Lee kept backing away but stopped when she accidently hit another student back and she grimaced and put a hand on her face when she saw that the line-up of students was knocked over and the vice principal was standing at the end.

"Biffy T. Goldstein, do we really have to go through this day in and day out?" she questioned. "You must know the drill by now."

"Straight down to detention after school, yes vice principal Victoria." Biff said before walking away.

Lee let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding before being joined by her friends and they continued down the line and she took another drink from her cup.

"Hey, check it; the whole enchilada is waiting to see where the new Kings of School sit." Cam said and saw some of the students waving.

"But that's the table I need to be at," Lee said looking over at the jock table, "so I can check hands for scabs."

"Gr-o-os." Cam sounded out.

"Lee," Holger said leaning over to the girl, "is she not your girlfriend?"

Lee almost choked before thinking about how to revise that question as Brandy started walking over. "I…I have no idea what is she."

"Leaping!" Brandy called and Lee started a bit.

"It's Lee Ping." Lee sounded out on her name. "Two words, Lee and-"

"Whatever." Brandy said cutting her off. "You and I are like the talk of the school; people want to see _us_. You and me, together, eating, talking, laughing. Hello, now." she said and Lee was forced to follow after the girl over to the jock table and she waved her hand. "Scooty scooty."

"No way, _he_ sits at _our_ table." Steve protested.

Lee though was shoved down into the sit by the jock by Brandy before she sat down. "It's _she_ for your information." Lee said flatly before looking at Brandy.

"Don't mind him; he's just upset the school thief stole his stupid, stinky, lucky towel." She explained.

"It's not stupid; he's my bub-bub!" Steve shouted. "He's been in my family for generations."

"Um, could you not cry on my Sushimi?" Kimmie questioned and there were chuckles around the table.

Lee looked around the table at the rings the football players were wearing before Steve glared down at her. "You! I bet this was one of your little pranks to throw me off tryouts! Take a hike, _Ping_," he said jerking his thumb in the direction away from them, "Or we'll show you what we do with people…who annoy us!" he shouted.

Lee looked to see her friends scatter before Ed the water boy appeared in their line of sight and a football player with a buzz cut stood up. "Like Ed, the water boy." He said before he and several other players dog piled him.

Lee cringed as they gave the boy a wedgie. "Have you guys been working out?" Ed questioned. "You got that one cranked in good." He said as his voice broke.

Lee started to feel nervous about sitting in her spot before a girl yelled, "My bag, someone stole my bag!" and the door slammed open to let their cyborg principal in.

"Ladies and degenerates, this kind of tomfoolery might have been fine and dandelions blowing in the summer breeze _last_ year, _but_," he said before his red glass eye zeroed in on the partially redheaded girl, "well la de da, is that a Lee Ping in my cafeteria?" he questioned as he stalked over the table and Lee cringed in her seat. "Well I'll be sunshine on a stick." He said slamming one arm down on the table. "What is a major malfunction preventing you from understanding that every free moment of your life is to be spent in detention?"

"What about…lunch?" Lee retorted and got her answer when Barrage squeezed her hamburger and its contents ended up on her shirt and she let out a depressive sigh.

* * *

The bell rung as the class let out and Lee and Cam were walking down the hall. "Man, I'd never thought I'd be so upset about not having a single jock in any afternoon class."

"What-ever, you'll do your gross scab search tomorrow yo manyana." Cam replied.

"Last time I checked scabs healed." Lee said. "And tomorrow it could be gone."

"True, but if he's a picker, it could like be there for a while." Cam replied shrugging.

Lee recoiled in disgust. "Now you're grossing me out." She said before they met up with Holger after he tried to check the hand of a football player.

"No scab." He said disappointedly.

Lee patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks Holger, way to randomly help me out." She said before taking out her phone and brought up a photo of the school team. "So it's not Trevor." She said touching the part of the picture with the mentioned player and an X appeared over it. "We just need to do that twenty more times. How'd you guys like to be pals and try out for the football team?" she asked smiling as she closed her eyes.

"And look for scabs?" Holger questioned as his voice held an echo and Lee opened her eyes in surprise before he jumped out in a blue and yellow outfit. "Holger definitely volunteer."

"Wow." Lee said staring before looking at her other friend. "Cam?"

"No way," Cam said crossing his arms, "are you kidding?" his protests stopped after watching three cheerleaders walked by and his tone changed. "I'd love to, cause everybody knows football mean cheerleaders." He said meaningfully before he seemed to realize _who_ he was talking to. "Oh, sorry Chica."

Lee waved it off. "No worries, I gotta go though." She said before sprinting down the hall and barged into the detention room and sat down in a seat ahead of Biff, who was knitting apparently. "Phew." She said grabbed a hold of the desk sides to keep from falling over. "Barrage didn't show yet?" she asked, but received no reply and she nervously looked up at him as she laid one elbow on the back of her chair. "Uh, about that burp incident…why act all," she scratched the back of her head before flaring her hands out, "whacked about it?"

"I don't know." Biff muttered. "I have a reputation to protect; I need people to take me seriously, so tell me honestly, what cat wouldn't love this?" he asked holding up what he had been knitting.

Lee blinked and stared. "Uh…one with more than three legs?" she questioned.

"Aw." Biff said upon seeing that there only _were_ three openings in the fabric.

Lee turned back in her seat and put her hand on her chin as she stared out the window, but her cell phone rang a moment later. "Fine the scabby hand yet?"

"No, Holger no see the scabby hand, Principal Shiny here." Holger said and the air sounded strange.

"Principal Barrage's there? What's that noise?" Lee questioned. "Where's Cam?"

"We…failed…now we suck through the hozen to disappointments time." Holger said before the phone went dead.

Lee sighed as she laid her upper body on the desk. "It's a complete disaster."

"No big whoop, that's what Plan B's are for." Biff said.

Lee raised a brow before turning in her seat and looked back up at him. "What am I supposed to do, run to the football field to do this myself, right in front of Barrage?" she asked sarcastically.

"Uh football, helmets, visors, _hello_." Biff said like it was obvious.

"But his cyborg eye thingy." Lee retorted pointing at her own eye. "What if it scans me?"

"'Scan's you?'" Biff replied and let out a laugh. "This isn't a big budget Hollywood action movie."

"Right." Lee muttered and picked up her cell.

"Now, sync it up." Biff said raising his own cell and they connected their phones.

* * *

Lee moved through the air duct and was right on the vent. "Drop down." Biff said from the head phone.

Lee opened the vent and dropped in, the girl's inside screaming before she let out a yell. "I'm a girl too, remember?" The screaming died down and there were sounds of understanding before Lee walked out of the room and pressed the headset. "You really didn't think that would work did you?" she questioned flatly before her voice rose in anger. "And I don't have time for games." She said as she went into the room where the uniforms were stashed.

"Easy stress ball, white's for newbies." Biff said as Lee grabbed a uniform and put it over her clothing, thankful that it was loose enough for her to get out of easily should the need arise.

Lee made her way out of the locker room and onto the field before finding Cam. "Cam?" she questioned pushing her visor up. "It's me."

"Whoa, Essay, sneaky." Cam replied and whispered the last word. "Hey, number 8 is clear, no scab." He said.

"Hey, nice play dude." Lee said trying to make her voice deeper as she looked at another football player's finger, only to find nothing and pressed her headset. "Number 8 and 11 are both clear."

"Just 17 to go." Biff replied.

Lee gasped as she saw Tina walking over and hid behind Cam before sneaking off. "Yo, Tina bobina, what's the deez?"

Lee backed up until she hit something and looked up and backed off again when she saw it was Barrage. "Thought you could pull this off? Sneaking out here, _late_? What's your name, soldier?"

Lee put her hand to her headset and an answer came through. "Jimmy Weinerhoussen." Biff said and Lee was about to repeat this until she heard the chuckle and cut it off with a scoff of disgust.

"Come on." She whispered and she pulled back when Barrage spat out the water he'd taken a drink of and Holger showed up, letting Lee sneak away again.

Lee was almost away when Barrage called out the number on her uniform. "77, catch this and you can stay." He said holding a football and kicked it high into the air. Lee looked up at it before running after it.

"Don't miss, don't miss." Lee said to herself as she ran down the field. "Trajectory, minus momentum, plus gravity means it should land-" she cut herself off as she landed on her stomach and caught it in her hands. "Wow, physics works in real life." She said amazed and the whistle blew and got back to her feet, only to get knocked back to the ground on her back and her helmet came off.

"Ping?" Steve questioned. "Aren't you supposed to be in detention? Oh, Barrage!"

"Are you gonna rat me out cause you're afraid I might be better than you?" Lee questioned.

"You? Please! I own this field." Steve retorted.

Lee smirked as she put her helmet back on. "Maybe be when you had your cuddly-wuddly little baby towel." She said in a babyish voice.

Steve grabbed the arms of Lee's uniform and dragged her up off her feet. "No one talks about bub-bub! First; I wipe the field with _you_, _then_ I give the leftovers to Barrage!"

Lee gritted her teeth as she was dropped on her backside and wondered if he really didn't like her or he had forgotten what she said about being a girl earlier at Lunch. She decided it didn't matter either way though as she joined the other players.

"Impressive! Heck, I'd like to invite each of you sweetie pies to my summer home for ice tea and corn muffins some time!" Barrage said.

"My ears cry for the muffins." Holger said appearing as though from nowhere and stuffed one in Barrage's face and holding up a tray of water in little umbrella cups and checked their fingers for scabs and appeared in front of Lee. "Number 44, 66."

Lee pressed the headset. "44, 66, clear." She relayed.

"Gosh, darn delicious boy!" Barrage said as he finished the muffin. "Now let's see how many of you score a simple touch down." He said blowing the whistle.

In the next moment they were all running down the field and suddenly springs started coming up from the ground and Lee saw player after player get shot into the air. "Ah! There's like…land mines thingys." She said into her headset.

"Hold on." Biff replied. "Got something for that." There was a paused for a few moments. "Left." Lee moved left. "Right, left-oh, I mean right."

Lee kept running and noticed Steve running after her and let out a startled yell and let him go over her and ran past him before raising the football. "Yeah."

"Well, color me purple and poke a crayon in ma eye." Barrage said walking over. "Nice run." Steve dusted himself off as he also walked over to her and glared at her. "Looks like you got some competition," Barrage said putting a hand on the teen's shoulder, "eh all-star?" he questioned before walking off.

Lee let out a small 'heh' in nervousness as the glare intensified. "Hi five?" she offered weakly as she held up her free hand.

"The only reason you outran me is cause I lost my bub-bub." Steve said pointing at her and poked her in the chest, and Lee's face scrunched up. "Get ready for pain, _Ping_. Lots of it!" he said taking the football out of her arms and walking away.

Lee made her way over to the bleachers and low fived a football player and found no scab, but just as she heard her cell beep, Lee was knocked to the ground and took out her cell. "99 and 12, man; I really hate that guy." She groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, pick it up there." Biff replied as Lee heard the whistle sound and she headed over to where the other players gathered. "You just need Evan and Steve."

Lee felt a hand land on her shoulder before she was pushed to the ground and out of the way. "Evan's clear, it's Steve." She said before rising back on her feet.

"Looks like the same team as last year." Barrage said. "Except for number 77, he might be the team's new captain. Is that what you want Steve? The number two spot?" he said before going over to what looked like an oversized canon that was loaded with footballs. "Whoever scores first is captain. The one who doesn't is his number two. Now show me your gravy guts, boys!"

The football was shot into the air and both Steve and Lee started running in the direction it was going in and Lee saw something, or rather, _didn't_ see something. "No ring." She whispered and the hand she was looking at pushed her face back and she fell back. Lee shook her head before running faster to catch up and the football landed on the grass at the end of the field before bouncing away.

They both looked at each other before looking at the now _free_ Tatzelwurm and began running toward the ball that stayed down on the grass this time and Lee jumped for it as Steve went over her and she stood back up just to see the Tatzelwurm jump up. "Gah ah!" she yelled before being knocked away and the ball fell out of her arms and she was sent crashing into Holger and Ed before landed on top of the water cart.

"Ring and scab!" Holger said as he grabbed Ed's wrist and held it up.

Lee got off the cart and walked over, the confusion evident in her voice. "What? You?"

"Let go of me." Ed said.

"See, I _didn't_ need my bub-bub to annihilate your hopes and dreams." Steve said walking over.

"So, you don't need that thing back then?" Lee questioned as she pointed to the old towel that was visible from the over turned cart.

"Huh, bub-bub?" Steve said before picking it up and other of the people on the field came over.

"My helmet." A football player said.

"My pom-pom." A cheerleader added.

"My hairspray." Chaz said picking up the can. "Great."

"This is your ring too, right?" Lee said gesturing to the silver band on the water boy's finger.

"You took my bub-bub, _and_ my ring?" Steve questioned as he took the ring back. "It's been missing since like, last year."

"It's not fair, I keep all of you hydrated and I never ever get to share in the glory!" Ed yelled. "I want a piece!"

Lee leaned down and glared at him. "The red bag in the gym right before the prank, I have a picture of you messing with it, _what'd you do_?"

"Do?" Ed asked and reached for something in the cart. "I just took this can of paint out of it." He said showing her the green paint. "You can have it back."

"77, whoever you are, I want you on this team." Barrage said making his way over to them. "I have never seen anyone with such glorious beatin's."

Lee straightened up and while that was _meant_ to likely be a compliment, she saw it in another way. She kept the paint in one hand while putting the visor of her helmet down as she looked at Steve. "I don't want to be on the team, I was here undercover to bust the school thief. We cool?"

"You got my ring back, and bub-bub." Steve replied and showed her the towel. "My whole family's been sweating into this for hundreds of years." He said and Lee recoiled as she swore she saw the towel's stink coming off it. "Trust me, we cool."

Biff's voice came through the headset. "You guys done playing patty-cake? Cause you gotta go, like _now!_"

Lee swiftly moved and crawled under the bleachers and when she came out from the other side she hit something metallic and Barrage grabbed her by the back of her uniform. "Buwoff! Interception!" he yelled but let go of her when a football came speeding in and took Barrage down.

Lee looked over at the canon and saw Steve give her a thumbs-up before returning it and hurried back into the school and Barrage was right behind her. "Get back here, 77!" Lee kept on running and when she made it back to detention she'd already shed her helmet and took the padded jersey off and tossed it before sitting back in her seat.

The door burst open and Barrage stood there and looked at them both for a moment. "Dismissed!" he shouted before moving out of the room.

Lee let out the breath she'd been holding and let her body fall on top of her desk and was almost instantly asleep.

* * *

"So Ed the water boy was the school thief," Lee said aloud as she circled the water boy in the photo of the football team with one hand and held the can of green paint in the other, "he messed with my bag before the prank because he stole this paint can from it. Which means my bag had already been switched at the time." She said putting it on the edge of her desk by her computer. "Cause this sure never belonged to me." She said and one screen came ups showing Holger.

"Lee, me Holger win job as server of water." He said and another screen came up.

"Ombre, you get the info you needed, cause if you cleared your name we should maybe still keep it a secret, you know." Cam said. "Just until I can get a date."

Lee saw from the corner of her eye the door open slightly. "Lights out." Her mother said and the room was flooded with darkness, save for the computer screen.

"See you tomorrow guys." Lee said before turning the computer off. "So the question still remains: who switched my bag, and what's the story behind this radioactive green paint? And when will my body stop hurting?" she asked aloud as she put an icepack on her face before her attention turned to the blue garment she'd brought home with her on her on her books and she bit her lip. _'Then there's that, did Biff put that on me because he's starting to warm up to me, or because of how pathetic I must have looked? Either way…why do I _care?_'_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lee stared up at the news broadcast in her first period class, having previously been entertaining the thought of the other students having a selective bout of obliviousness towards her gender, as she'd had to correct her friends three times when they'd met up early morning.

"Good morning A. Nigma High students, I'm Tina Kwee, and this is-" Tina was saying before she was cut off by her co-anchor.

"Chaz Monorainian, and we _are_ your school news." He said. "Well, mostly me, not so much 'we.'"

"And here are today's top stories." Tina said.

"And by top stories, she means the very best explosive, exciting in your face newsie action stuff…"

Lee droned out the voice as she looked over at Holger, who was pressing the pen down onto the paper hard enough for her to _hear_ his writing. "Uh, Holger, intense much?"

"Me no more pencil break with new Alpha Turbo Mach Pen, see?" Holger said and slammed the pen down on his table and the pen exploded, the ink smashing up onto him.

Lee felt herself chuckle as the rest of the class did and she truly felt bad about that before looking back up at the television.

"There's only one day left to vote for Student of the Week." Tina said.

"And if you haven't voted yet, grab a pen and make your voice heard." Chaz added.

"But be sure to try and vote for the that best exemplifies success in academics, athletics, and…" Tina trailed off when Chaz let out a derisive snore.

"Snore me a river Tina, we all know it's a popularity contest, and I like it that way. And here's the latest poles that everyone wants to see." He said as a paper depicting the most popular people in school on it and Lee was surprise to see that she was just behind the Tatzelwurm on the chart, and then felt befuddled that people had voted for the mascot while being simultaneously terrified of it.

"And don't forget tomorrow when I'll be interviewing the winner live on TV." Tina said.

"Oh wrong again, Tina." Chaz said as he pointed to himself. "_I'll_ be doing that interview on a special segment I like to call 'Chaz's Corner.'"

Tina huffed. "More like 'Chaz's Snorer.' There is no way I'm gonna let you-"

"Really? Because I'll tell you what tops as a snorer." Chaz retorted and as he and Tina started arguing, Holger moved in front of Lee.

"Lee, see Holger make clean." He said, though his teeth were stained with the ink from his pen.

* * *

When the class let out, Lee and Holger were joined by Cam in the hall. "Hey, yo, so am I standing beside the next ombre of the week or what-whaaat?"

"Holger mess up football tryouts but Holger is new boy of water, so ja, maybe." Holger said as it became apparent that he thought Cam was asking him.

"Uh, I was actually talking to Lee." Cam revised.

Lee scoffed. "Student of the Week, big deal, yeah, throw a parade." She said sarcastically flaring her arms out above her head in derision before cringing as Holger blew a party whistle in her ear. "Yeah, well you guys go off and enjoy your lunch," she said waving them off, "I have detention."

"What about that paint you found dude?" Cam asked and Lee decided it wasn't worth wasting her breath correcting her friends. If they remembered on their own, then good for them. Then again Cam's _always_ called her 'dude.'

"What about it?" Lee questioned. "It's green paint; it-it's a dead end. What's it tell me?"

"That whoever set you up has horrible taste in decorating?" Cam suggested and Lee let out a chuckle before making a move to leave.

"Okay guys, I gotta scramble before Barrage catches me." She said before running into the Skater Clique and didn't refuse when their leader made to give her a fist bump.

"Sup Ping, prank master, you gonna send us another e-mail or what?" he asked.

"Yeah, what'd you got planned for this week huh?" The fast talking blond with short hair questioned.

"We're gonna need something epically, monolithically humongous." Ned said doing the 'rock on' signs with both hands.

Lee stared in confusion. "_What?_"

"Aw, look how long this string is." The short-haired blond skater said marvelling at the rope on the open locker that must have been one of theirs.

"Hey, let me see that." Ned said as he skated by and grabbed the rope out of the locker.

"Bummer you had to be the one that got busted for the last one though huh?" Zed questioned as he elbowed her in the side and slap her on the arm.

"Last one?" Lee questioned as she wondered if people just seemed to like hitting her, or pushing her in some cases. "What?"

"Whoa, the new flat top groves!" Zed exclaimed as another student walked by and he and his clique skated off.

Lee stared in surprise. "Guys?" she called as she tried to follow, only to run into Brandy.

"Leaping." She said sticking a pin on her shirt and she cringed.

"Ouch." Lee grunted before taking the pin out in annoyance. "It's Lee Ping, not-"

"So, Kimmie has decided she wants to win Student of the Week this week, and like, every week so…" Brandy trailed off.

"No prob, I'll vote for her." Lee replied and turned away, only to have Brandy block her path.

"Great, but since you're like my man and everything-"

"I'm a girl." Lee interjected tiredly.

"BFF and everything," Brandy corrected without missing a beat, "I'm gonna need you to help me spread the word, you know, during lunch," she said as she tried handing the redhead the box of posters, "after school."

Lee pushed the box back. "That's when I have detention."

"Hey," Cam said walking into view, "but I don't, I'll roll with you Chicas _and_ get the word out. You know, if you put in like a good word for me with your pals. No what I'm saying, no what I'm sayin'?" he repeated before Brandy turned away to see Lee leaving and his voice got louder. "Everyone vote for Kimmie, she's gonna make homework illegal and stuff." He said before looking at Brandy. "She could do that right?"

* * *

Lee sprinted down the empty hall and looked around. "Where's those skaters go?" she questioned aloud before going through a door to the cafeteria and almost jumped in surprise when she saw Tina in front of the vending machine. "Tina!"

"Just the guy," Lee's face twisted up, "_girl_ I was looking for." Tina said.

Lee blinked as her face relaxed. "Me?" she asked scratching the back of her head. "Well, uh, hi?"

"You might actually win Student of the Week, even though it _was_ for a silly prank, but it was kinda cool." Tina replied.

"Really?" Lee asked surprised. "You think so?"

"It's not something I'd do, but sometimes you gotta do what it was that you did, you know, too…stick it to the man, or," Tina suddenly pulled out a tape recorder and put it in Lee's face, "or was it all just a set up so you could win Student of the Week? A. Nigma students want to know."

Lee felt an arm on her shoulder pull her away from Tina as Chaz and his cameraman showed up unexpectedly. "Chaz Monorainian looking for an exclusive interview for 'Chaz's Corner,' just sign here," he said bewilderedly Lee did as instructed, "here, here, and initial here. Just one more, thanks Ping."

"Excuse me; _I'm_ the one who's interviewing the Student of the Week." Tina said cutting in ad Lee took this time to leave and made her way over to the skater table.

"Hey, what'd you mean 'another e-mail'?" she asked.

"Like the one for the day one dudette." Zed replied and Lee tried to hide her surprise by the fact he called her the correct pronoun. "We did everything you said."

"Lee Ping!" Lee cringed as she saw Barrage coming over and she knew she was in trouble. "Is there a broken telephone in the seventh level of Sam Heck. When in smokey tarnation are you going to get it through your teeny, weeny, stripe bikini little water head that _lunch time_ is _free time?_ And during free time where. Are. You. Supposed to be?" he shouted.

"Um," Lee began nervously, "detention?"

"See? You can teach monkeys to swim." Barrage said and pointed out the door. "Hop to! Move out!" he yelled and Lee began making for the exit. "Hut two, three, four, hut…"

Lee's face was set in annoyance as she walked down the hall and stopped when she saw the skaters outside before taking her cell out and soon Holger's voice answered on the other line.

"Holger says hello."

"Hey Holg, can you do me a solid?" Lee questioned.

"Where is Lee? Where is Cam? Holger lonely." Holger replied.

"Cam's with Brandy, I need you to keep an eye on Barrage right now." Lee said.

Holger let out a small gasp on the other line. "For heroic spy mission?"

"Yeah, sure." Lee replied. "I need, uh, sidekick to tail Barrage."

"Aye, Holger be sidekicker." Holger replied enthusiastically.

"Just call me if he goes to the parking lot or to the detention room, okay?" Lee asked.

"Holger definitely volunteer, bye, bye." Holger replied before Lee ended the call.

The redheaded girl snuck out to the parking lot and looked over one of the cars as she got closer to the skaters and she was discovered when Zed actually noticed her. "Ping!" he said waving her out.

Lee came out from behind the car. "Hey guys, about the prank, can we rewind a sec? Did you really-"

"Catch me if you can!" Zed yelled skating on by.

The short-haired blond gave her a skateboard before they also got on their boards and skated off, making Lee let out a frustrated sound. "I've met squirrels with longer attention spans."

"Keep up Ping!"

Lee looked down at the board in her hands and didn't see any other option as she got on the board and skated after them. She kept her balance for the most part as she managed to catch up with Ned. "Hey!" she called over at him. "The prank on the first day of school, _you_ did all that?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"Just the paint part." He replied.

Lee watched them all jumped over the hood of a car, but as she saw them going in the other direction on the other side of the parked vehicles, she opted to just go around the corner on the ground before pushing against the ground and caught up with Ted this time.

"Nice choice of color, radioactive booger green."

"Choice?" Lee asked frowning. "I didn't _choose_ anything."

"Yeah right Ping." The short-haired blond said skating up behind her and gave her a small shove on the back. "Uh, thee e-mail."

Lee rubbed her back before flaring her hands out. "What e-mail?" she received no answer and was about to catch up to Zed when she saw he had two Green Apple Splat cans and shook them before putting them out behind him and they exploded, the girl putting her hands up to shield herself from the drink and veered off toward a vehicle and crashed into it and let out a groan.

"Bra, your mom's SUV!" Zed said chuckling and Lee got up in a panic.

The redheaded girl held the broken off side mirror in her hands and her panic rose. "She's gonna kill me!"

"So, Pingster, what's with the suspense? Trying to freak us out or what?" Ted asked.

"Yeah, what's our next prank?" Zed questioned.

Lee barely looked away from where she was trying to fix the mirror. "Yeah, sorta in the middle of something here." She replied with annoyance lacing her voice. "It happened two seconds ago, ya probably forgot."

"What do we do?" The short-haired blond asked.

"Come on, tell us Lee." Zed said.

Lee felt something akin to a headache coming on as she heard them each repeat her name and she finally snapped. "I don't know!" she yelled and they backed off. "Look, you're the paint guys; dump some of it on the Student of the Week or somethin'." She said before beaming at the fact the mirror was staying on.

"Dudette, on live TV? Totally clutch, but it's missing something." Zed pointed out.

Lee, more preoccupied by the fact the mirror just didn't want to stay put, wasn't really paying that much attention. "Why won't you stay on?"

"Lee?" Zed asked tapping her on the shoulder.

"Whatever, rig the ballad box; make it whoever you want." Lee replied. "Barrage even." She added before the mirror finally seemed to stick. "There, finally."

"That's perfect!" Zed exclaimed.

Misunderstanding what he meant, Lee smirked as she put her hands on her sides. "I know, but it's still cracked." She said before hearing her cell ring and answered it.

"Sidekick number one to hero, Barrage is coming." Holger stated.

Lee gasped. "It's Barrage!" she said and from the distance Holger waved at her and they all scattered and Lee put the phone to her ear. "Holg, turn Barrage away."

"Holger try, but robot leg…scary!" Holger replied and let out a muffled gasp. "Outdoor voice."

Lee heard another voice come over the phone and she quickly ended the call and jumped into the bush beside the path leading up to the school as Barrage arrived at her mother's SUV.

"Who did this?" he yelled and Lee began moving along the bush before nearly bumping into Brandy.

"Leaping!" she shouted.

Lee pulled them both down and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh, keep it down."

"Down shush me." Brandy said before pointing an accusatory finger at the redhead. "You told me that you had detention."

"I do, but I snuck out so I could-" Lee tried to reply, but Brandy interrupted her.

"I'm waiting, hello?" she said crossing her arms. "Why are you-"

"Shh!" Lee shushed her again. "Please, you have to-"

"Answer me, Leaping!" Brandy yelled before Lee clamped a hand down on the girl's mouth. She pulled her hand back when she was sure Brandy wasn't about to start yelling again. "Gotta go."

* * *

The bell rung and as Lee's last class was let out, she noticed Tina at her locker before thinking better of talking to her and she walked down the other end of the hall and noticed the Glamazons coming in her direction.

"You can meet us at the mall to stick up all these flyers." Kimmie said before giving Brandy a box of posters.

Lee grimaced and backed away before she was noticed and ran down the hall from the other side and eventually found the skaters.

"Ping, we're totally doing it." Zed whispered.

Lee jerked back and stopped in her tracks. "_What?_" she asked in alarm and was ready to run back the other way if necessary. "I gotta get to detention."

"Your prank with the paint on Barrage's head is gonna be epic." Ned said.

"Dude, I bet I can get all four wheels to spin at the same time." The short-haired blond said distractedly as he tried to spin all the wheels on his board.

Lee felt her alarm fade as she realized Zed was not implying what _she_ thought he was implying. Then again, could you _blame_ her for jumping to the wrong conclusion when he just out and said that? "My prank?" she asked in confusion. "I was only kidding."

"Barrage and those news nerds are gonna be living it up in green paint splatter city." Zed explained.

Lee's alarm returned, only for a different reason this time. "Tina." She whispered.

"Let me try." Zed said spinning the wheels on the board as the other skaters tried reaching for it and Lee took it out of his hands.

"I got a way better plan." She said. "Seriously guys, how 'bout we just tee-pee Barrage's car or something?" she asked and noticed the shadow that fell over them and her eyes widened. "He's behind me, isn't he?" she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"You wanna do what with whose car?" Barrage questioned before lifting Lee up by the back of her shirt. "You are so dead-" he cut himself as the cell he had started making noise. "Oh Texas crab cakes, I forgot to hit pause." He said and wasted no more time in moving to the detention room and kicked the door open. "Alright, you know the drill." He said dropping her to the floor as he yelled at the game. "Not that way, retreat! I wanna see suffering, open fire! Clear." He said left the room, closing the door behind him.

Lee had long since regained her dignity by getting back to her feet and turned her look to Biff, wondering if she should bring up the 'blanket' he'd left on her before he held up a small orange cat.

"Mr. Rumple-Kittykat," Biff said shoving the cat in Lee's face and it meowed and licked her nose, "this is Lee, and this is for you." He said holding a small sweater made of the same fabric that had been put on her yesterday. "You're gonna look great." He said and tried to put the sweater on the cat. "Hold still." He said and the cat did as he put the sweater on it. "Let me get this straight, you're going to let your friend Tina get nailed by paint because she'll be interviewing the Student of the Week? That's harsh, but on the plus side, Barrage gets totally splattered, but he's gonna blame you, and you'll have detention forever."

Lee rubbed the back of her neck as she pushed the strange feelings to the back of her mind. "So no matter what, I _have to _stop this. But that means dealing with those hyperactive squirrel-brains again."

"Just go tell 'em to drop it." Biff replied. "They _worship_ you and got a major crush on you too."

Lee let out an incredulous laugh. "How do you know that?"

Biff shrugged. "I know everything, it's kinda scary, but anyway, you'll be back in time. There, that wasn't too bad, right?" he asked the cat as he lifted it up.

"Wait, Barrage confiscated my pal Holger's phone, can you track him through that?" Lee asked.

"Text me his number and we got him." Biff said taking out his laptop.

Lee did so and got up onto her desk before reaching up and taking the vent grate off and crawled inside before Biff's voice came over the headset.

"You're totally in the clear."

Lee let out a relieved sigh at this info before making her way toward the exit of the school and dropped down from the grate and barged out of the doors that led to the parking lot and looked around. "Maybe they're in the TV studio." She said to herself before spotting her mom. "Ah, mom." She said before diving into the bush and watched her mother walk by and into the school.

Lee stood up with a sigh of relief before she was tackled to the ground and looked at the strangely suited teen and realized who it was. "Holger?"

"Shhh." Holger shushed her.

"What are you wearing?" Lee whispered.

"Holger be Captain Strudellegs." Holger replied as he peered through the binoculars over the bush. "I spy on the skaters eye for secrety of mission." He said giving Lee the binoculars.

The girl looked through them with narrowed eyes and found them over by a tree. "Uh, what are they up to now?"

The two of them walked over to the tree, but noticed that none of the skaters were present before the short-haired blond came out from behind the covered device of some kind. "Pingster and crew, you made it."

Lee felt some knock into her as Zed came up from behind and looked at Holger. "Epic prank outfit dude."

"That shirt is so...sparkly." Ned said as Lee looked under the sheet and found a can of green paint and picked the can up.

"Donkey shine." Holger replied.

"Where did you get all this?" Lee questioned. "Guys?"

"Hello," Ted said jumping down from the tree he was in, "you left it here for us."

"Yeah, you sent in that new e-mail." Zed said.

Lee slapped a hand over her face. "What e-mail?" she asked and Zed handed her his cell and she looked it over. "That's not my e-mail account."

"Dudette, your name's on the bottom." Ted pointed out and Lee _did_ see that her name was there.

"Let's do this, Ted, Ned, and Holger, you hit the voting room and write 'Barrage' a million times and _stuff_ the ballad box." Zed explained while taking three pens out of his bag and handed it to the aforementioned three.

"Holger love new fancy pen." Holger said actually giving kisses to the pen. "Never break." He said tapping it on his own head. "Aye, aye, Holger do." He said as he, Ted, and Ned all left.

"Wait Holg!" Lee called after him, but slumped her shoulders. "Aw man."

"No time dudette," Zed said handing her another bag, "while they do that, we gotta get the paint rolling." He said before he and the blond started skating towards the school. "You coming?" he called to her.

Lee stared before pressing the headset. "_Who_ is doing this to me? I never sent that e-mail."

"It's not just about you right now. You got to stop those guys before your only girlfriend becomes your not anymore friend. Trust me; she won't look good in green." Biff said over the headset.

Lee let out a frustrated sigh before running to catch up with the two skaters, who seemed oddly insistent that she walk between them. What Biff said about them crushing on her came to mind, but brushed it off as him pulling her leg and when they neared a room, Chaz and Tina came out and the three of them hid in a recycling bin that was surprisingly large enough to fit all three of them.

"You need to back off; I'm doing the interview no matter who wins." She said.

"Ehhh, wrong again Tina, signed contracts from every student in the school try to be that in court." Chaz said holding up the signed papers.

"Court? This is _school_," Tina said as Zed's cell started ringing and Tina sighed before walking away, "you are ridiculous."

"Ridiculous huh? We'll see who looks ridiculous after I sue you for contract infringement." Chaz said. "Hey! Don't walk away from the Chaz when he's talking to you." He said following after her.

When the two of them were gone, the two skaters and Lee all shot up from the recycling bin and let out a breath of air before Zed put his cell to his ear. "Go ahead dude."

* * *

A short time later the three of them arrived at the newsroom and both the blond and Zed scaled up to the platform and she cupped a hand around her mouth. "Hey, could I see that e-mail again?"

"Sure, but you wrote it!" Zed shouted as he tossed his cell down to her.

Lee caught it in both hands. "I need some specs off it, I uh, wrote it really late last night." She said hastily before looking through the plans and found another set of plans. "This is the day on prank as well, I'll forward these," she said to herself and her voice grew louder, "hey, this is just the paint stuff, where's everything else? The stink bombs, the lights, the water, the-"

"The rest was all you, bra!" Zed shouted. "Amnesia much?"

"You only did…part of the prank?" Lee questioned and heard metal hitting the floor before she ducked behind a crate and pressed her headset. "Aren't you supposed to be on Barrage duty?"

"Yeah, and he's far away." Biff replied.

The door opened and Ted, Holger, and Ned came in and Zed called out, "Hey guys, up here."

"Cool, me first." Ned and Ted said at the same time before rushing to get up the rope.

Lee came up to Holger and put a hand on his shoulder. "Holg, this thing is getting out of hand, we need to-"

"Set prank up like fast bunny?" Holger questioned.

"What? No." Lee replied. "The opposite." She crossed her arms in thought before pressing the headset. "I gotta stop this, text Holger's phone; Barrage still has it, tell him to come quick, something's going down in the newsroom."

"You _wanna_ get caught?" Biff asked incredulously.

"It's the only way to stop this." Lee replied. "They need some motivation."

"It's your funeral." Biff said as he talked to the cat. "What are we gonna wear to Lee's funeral, I can knit you a tux, eh?"

"Your confidence in me is overwhelming." Lee snarked.

"Uh oh, Barrage is off the map, I don't know where he is." Biff said as Lee heard the incoming footstep of metal. "But I'm pretty sure he got the message."

Lee shook her head as she looked up at the platform. "Guys, forget the prank, I think I hear…Barrage!" she exclaimed before she and Holger both dove for cover just as the door slammed open.

"Well, what do we have here?" Lee heard Barrage question as his footstep got louder and louder in her ears. She heard something hit the floor and crawled to the next crate when she saw Barrage was distracted by the paint can on the floor.

"Out of the way Tina, it's Chaz time, I got to make the studio look good for _my_ interview." Chaz said as he and Tina both wrestled to get in.

Holger and Lee looked out from their respective hiding places. "On three, run for your life," Holger said, "one, two, five, three." He said before letting out a cry as he stood up and ran over to the anchor desk and grabbed the platform edge, spilling the paint cans on Chaz and Barrage, effectively blinding them both for the moment as she and the skaters made a break for the door.

Lee and Holger gave a thumbs up to each other before making themselves scarce and Lee ran down the hall, pressing the button on the headset. "What's the best way to get back? Biffy?"

"Down the stairwell, right beside ya." Biff replied.

Lee headed down the stairs and jumped the rest of the way as she slid down the ramp and nearly fumbled on the landing before sprinting to the detention room and hurriedly taking her seat, just seconds later with Barrage slamming the door open.

"Did you hear hoodlums running amuck?" he questioned.

"Uh-uh." Lee said shaking her head.

"Nope." Biff said at the same time as the cat meowed.

"Me-what?" Barrage questioned.

"Uh, I think she said 'ow,' didn't you?" Biff questioned as he punched Lee in the arm and she let out an 'ow' as she rubbed her arm. "And also sometimes we talk like we're cats. Meow."

A beeping came from Barrage's watch and he checked the time. "Dismissed!" he said pointing out the door.

As they both left, Lee rubbed her arm once more and glared up at Biff. "Did you _have_ to _hit_ me?"

Biff shrugged. "Had to make it look convincing."

Lee rolled her eyes and when she made it to her locker; she found a note attached to it. She read what was on it and found it was _phone numbers_. "Oh…my…" she trailed off and couldn't even finish her sentence.

Biff looked over her shoulder and let out a chuckle. "See, I told you they had it bad."

Lee blushed, but tried to protest anyway. "This could just mean they want to be friends, and…the skaters only left me their numbers in case they probably want to pull another prank."

* * *

Later in the evening, Lee stared at the two prank plans on her computer and narrowed her eyes. "Both plans came from the same address, Radcircles at a. nigma high, who's that?" she questioned aloud before another screen appeared on her computer.

"Me counts the ballads we stolen of winner was Lee." Holger said before blowing a kazoo.

"Look, I'm in the middle of some-" Lee tried to say, but another screen popped up, and to Lee's surprise, it was Zed.

"Duudette, that was awes! We got Barrage good, _and_ we got away with it." He said. "Wicked!"

Lee thought back to it and couldn't help but smile, but her expression turned to frustration as her mother opened her door slight. "Lights out." She said and turned the switch before closing the door.

"Heh, later guys." She said before turning off her computer and looking down at her cell; and the e-mail address on it. "Okay Radcircles at a. nigma high , whoever you are, I know you tried to set me up for this, and when I find you you're gonna tell me why, or I'm gonna _make you_."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lee walked down the hall of the school, intently focused on the cell in her hands. "Come one Radcicrcles, what's your password already?" she questioned herself as she attempted to decipher it. "Rad?" she tried, only to get denied. She tried again only to get denied a second time. "Fad?" she questioned and once again got denied before Cam came walking up behind her.

"Yo Chica." He said as they bumped fists. "Uh, did you uh, wash that hand?"

Lee frowned in confusion. "What?"

"What, you don't know?" Cam questioned before taking out his cell and showing Lee a picture of what looked like she was picking her nose.

"Whoa." She said recoiling in surprise before scoffing. "Come on, that's not even my finger. Where'd you get this?"

"It was e-mailed school wide, everyone's seen it Chica." Cam said.

"E-mail, from who?" Lee asked before her eyes widened in realization and she took the phone out of Cam's hand. "Wait, was it Radcircles?" she asked before her expression fell flat. "Nah, it's from I p freely at A. ." she read aloud and a trio of passing cheerleaders passed by with 'ewws' of disgust.

"He's disgusting." One of them said.

"Hey, it's fake; okay?" Cam yelled after them and looked back at Lee. "Aw man, you, we, aw somebody has to do like damage control pronto man, stat, right away you know, like uh, ASAP."

"It's a fake picture." Lee said. "No one's gonna fall for it, I don't have time for this." She said giving Cam back his phone before walking away.

"Are you loco in the cocoa? This is the kind of thing that could totally blow our cool new rep man." Cam said as he followed after Lee and the redhead crashed into Brandy at the corner, causing the other girl to drop her books.

"Watch where you're-oh, hi." She said before Lee knelt down and picked up the girl's books and held them out to her. Brandy suddenly put a hand to her mouth and looked ready to hurl. "Uh, gotta go." She said quickly running away.

"Your books!" Lee called after her.

"It's worse than I thought," Cam said shaking his head, "your girlfriend won't even talk to you, Chica."

"She's not my girlfriend, she's…forget it." Lee said before walking off to class.

While she _really_ wanted to believe that no one would fall for the fake photo, she had forgotten to take into account that half the school on a basis forgot that she was a _girl_.

* * *

"And in summary, there will be no more…turkey lasagna for lunch." Tina said from the TV in the first period classroom. "Ever."

Lee looked at her cell and saw Holger lean over and was looking at her hand. "Holger, it wasn't me, it's fake." She said.

Holger sat back in his seat while letting out a sigh of relief. "Whew, cause in Holger country, only president put finger inside nose."

"In less snoozy news, here's a little nugget." Chaz began from the TV. "Pardon the pun; everyone seen the e-mail of booger picker prankster Lee Ping? Could this be the end of his popularity rise?"

Lee seriously felt like slamming her head against her desk, and was grateful when the bell rang later to let the class out and she went back to trying to crack the password.

"So this booger thing could go like two ways," Cam said as he came up to her and Holger, "bad, or _really_ bad."

"Dude!" Lee snapped. "Enough! I'm trying to find out who sent the prank e-mail and you keep yapping about…boogers." She said the last word in disgust.

"Ya, but Chica we gonna-" Cam tried to retort, but a new voice cut him off.

"Penny for your snots, Ping!" A Mathelete said throwing a penny and it hit Lee in the head, making the girl cringe.

"Yeah, like that is so gross." A girl with braces said practically spitting on her and the redhead shielded her head to make sure she stayed dry.

"Matheletes, still working on the same old Math equation?" Lee questioned sardonically. "What's it been, six years now?"

"You're just jealous!" The lead Mathelete said. "Cause one day we will solve the prestigious pithagrous Math problem and win that million dollar prize. Without _you_!" he shouted and the group walked on past her.

"Aw man, even the _Mathelete_ are sniping on us." Cam said. "This is like, mucho disaster Chica."

"Why Erwin make hate cake for Lee?" Holger questioned.

"Bro, our girl Lee used to _be_ a Mathelete, and Erwin and her were bestest friends back in the day." Cam explained to Holger.

Lee's expression had been flat through the explanation, even when Holger gasped in shock. "_You_ wore sweater of nerd? But Erwin used to be friend now not no more?"

"One day snug as two Mexican bugs, the next dastardly enemies; so is the circle of life dude." Cam said.

"It wasn't like that." Lee finally spoke up. "We never-"she stopped and slapped her forehead. "Circle? Radcircles of course, I thought Radcircles was a skater term like 'totally rad, dude,'" Lee said deepening her voice, "but it's a _math_ term like 'radius circle.'" She said in a mockingly 'nerdish' voice. "Huh, it's gotta be Erwin's e-mail address!"

"Well he does hate you." Cam pointed out in agreement.

"Guys, Holger say no losing friends here okay?" Holger asked. "Me desire Lee and Cam to be BFFs to the old man time." He said holding up a picture of said 'time.'

"What? How come _you_ get the cute nurse?" Cam questioned outraged.

Lee let out a sound of frustration. "If this is Erwin's e-mail account, I'm sure he's in crypted it to the tenth power of Math nerd-dom. But, if I can get on his laptop, his password's probably already entered."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Cam shouted holding up his hands for emphasis. "You are not gonna hang with Matheletes Chica. Not while our rep is down."

"Dude, if I can prove Erwin sent that prank e-mail I can prove my innocence." Lee said slapping her head. "Gotta jet, spare." She said before sprinting off. "I know just where Erwin'll be." She said before reaching the library and found the Matheletes and sat down in the shadow of the shelf as she tried listening in.

"Today is a new school year, and this year we solve the piethagerous math problem. Set your notebooks to stun!" Erwin said before being shushed by the librarian.

Lee looked around the book shelf corner at them and moved back as the girl with braces came running over to the table. "Guys, I just found something, a missing part of the equation, and, it's on microface. Who's excited?" she asked before her retainer fell out of her mouth.

"Huzzah, to the resource section." Erwin said before once again being shushed and the group all left the library.

Lee looked out from her hiding place and narrowed her eyes. "Now or never." She said before crawling along the floor and her cell rang before she got shushed and answered it. "What?" she whispered.

"Holger want to say hi friend." Holger said.

"Kind of in the middle of something here." She said before putting in her head set.

"Holger sing spy song for the secret of the mission." Holger replied.

Lee heard a 'Mission Impossible' variant of the tune as she crept along the back wall of the library and had the laptop in her sights before she heard the sounds of metal on the floor and pushed back several books and saw Barrage come in.

"I smell nerd brain!" he said. "And cranial oil!" he growled when the librarian shushed him as he walked past her.

"Uh oh, if Barrage catches me enjoying spare-" Lee said quietly before Holger's voice interrupted her.

"Barrage? Holger make music extra intense." Holger said and the 'music' went on.

Lee bit her lip as she saw Barrage headed her way and backed down into the darkened row before hiding behind a shelf and held her breath before she heard the steps get further away and snuck out of the hall before looking around and went for the computer. "Gotcha." She said trying to type, but nothing happened. "Come one, come one."

"Lee Ping!" A voice shouted angrily and Lee looked up with a gulp as she saw that the Matheletes were back.

Erwin shut the laptop as the girl with the retainer spoke. "Gross, his snot digits were all over your computer." She said wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "Get the disinfectant." She said chuckling and Lee cringed back to avoid getting spit on her.

"Looks like I caught you red-handed, booger-fingers, trying to steal all our work for the piethagorius math problem." Erwin said smugly.

Lee stood from the seat with a scoff and crossed her arms. "As if."

"So then what brings you to our table?" The short girl with the uni-brow said and unabashedly grabbed a hold of Lee's chin and thoroughly freaked her out. "Miss our late trivia nights?" she said pulling her hand back and waggled her uni-brow.

Lee was starting to regret the fact she'd opted to wear the _boys_ Mathelete outfit instead of a girl one, then maybe she wouldn't have just gotten hit on by Greta. She was left momentarily speechless before snapping out of it. "Uh, I was looking for a pertinent e-mail I know a certain _someone_ sent." She raised her voice only a little; and it still got her shushed.

"E-mail? _What_ e-mail?" Erwin questioned. "I don't know any e-mail." He said before glaring at her. "Even if there was some random e-mail that actually existed that you were randomly talking about-you could never prove it, periodically or mathematically." He said quickly.

"Ah ha!" Lee said with some triump in her voice. "Then open up your laptop and prove it Mr. Radcircles."

"Circles? Third grade advanced geometry?" Erwin shrugged. "What's _that_ got to do with anything?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Lee said pointing an accusatory finger at him before her eyes widened as a metal hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Aw, come on were whispering."

"I don't care if you're doing the chorus line from 'My Sweet Staciod Lady,' what are _you_ doing _here_?" Barrage questioned turning Lee around.

"Me? Uh, I have a spare." Lee answered weakly as she rubbed her shoulder.

"And where are you supposed to be during all spares?" Barrage questioned and Lee knew what was coming next.

* * *

"Detention?" Lee questioned cowering in her seat in the detention room.

"Bravo, not bad for someone with nothing but oatmeal and tittle-winks north of the eyebrows!" Barrage shouted as he stormed out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Lee waited for a moment before taking her cell out and dialed Holger's number.

"Holger says hello." He said upon answering.

"Holg, I need your help after school." Lee said.

* * *

When after school came, she and Biff were both seated in the detention room chairs and being yelled at by Barrage. "Tweedle dumb, and tweedle dumber; you sit there and think about which one's which, and not one _peep_-" he said heading for the door, only to look back at the cat sound.

"Uh, technically a meow." Biff said. "Not a peep." Barrage growled before slamming the door shut and Lee let out a sigh of relief as Biff got up from his seat and pulled the grate off the vent, letting Mr. Rumple-Kittykat jump on his shoulder. "It's okay, robo meanie is gone now."

"Before you say anything, the picture was a total fake." Lee said.

"Obviously, I could tell a bad paint job on my LOA, but I gotta have _some_ fun; find any _gold_ up there?" Biff questioned and Lee's phone started vibrating. "Ya gonna _pick_ that up?" he asked chuckling.

Lee had something of a glare on her face as she answered the phone call. "Super spy Jorf Borff reporting for duty."

"I'm here Holger." Lee replied.

"Who's Holger? Holger no here." Holger replied and Lee sighed.

"Fine, Jorf Borff." She said. "You heading to the Matheletes club house?"

"Operation keep friends in effect." Holger replied.

"What? I'm not gonna stop being-" Lee said, only to stop herself as she put her other hand to her face. "Forget it. When you get there tell him you wanna join."

"Won't he make suspicious make?" Holger asked.

"Tell him you think I'm gross, I'm a-" Lee was about to say something when Biff cut in.

"Snot farmer!" he laughed.

Lee looked down and seriously had to find out what on earth made her begin to develop a crush on _him_ of all people. "Booger picker." She said flatly. "And that you always loved Math-and itchy sweaters."

"Booger, sweaters, always, okay." Holger said before hanging there was the sound of a door opening. "Computers, but no humans? Maybe they turn into computers at night."

"No, they're just not there." Lee replied. "Erwin's laptop is the one with the pie symbol on it, flash drive that puppy."

Lee heard the dial tone and blinked incredulously before her voice turned urgent. "Holger? Holger?" she heard the sound of metal footsteps and put her cell behind her back as Barrage opened the door.

"Dumb, dumber, check." He said closing the door and opened it again suddenly and looked at them. "Carry on." He said after a moment and closed the door again.

Biff pulled the cat up and let out a groan. "Ow."

Lee looked at his scratched up hand and was glad she didn't have to hold that cat anytime soon and she got out her cell again and started pacing when he still received no answer. "Lee to Jorf Borff, come in Jorf Borff. Something bad's happened, Holger would never not respond to Jorf Borff." She said hanging up her cell.

"It's part of the spy business, sometimes you gotta sacrifice a pawn." Biff said.

Lee made a face at him. "Holger isn't a pawn, he's my friend; a friend who I sent in unprepared to do my dirty work." She said pausing before dial another number. "Let me call Cam." She said and it only rang once before the voice mail came on.

"Yo, yo, what do you know, you reached my message, a-a-an my message bee-"

Lee cut the phone line off as she sat back in her seat quickly and put her phone behind her back as Barrage came back in for a moment and closed the door again. She took the phone out as it beeped. "'Hey, if you ever want to see your friend again, come to the Math room now.' What?"

"Uh-uh, way on the other side of school. Suicide mission buddy." Biff said. "Holger's a big boy, he can handle himself."

"Have ya _met_ Holger?" Lee asked disbelievingly as she stood from her seat. "I gotta save him, he'd do the same for me. Not very well," she admitted with a nervous smile, "but he'd do it."

"Well I do have one untested Barrage tracking tactic left." Biff said looking down at the cat.

Lee stared at him dryly. "Very resourceful." She said flatly. "But how's he gonna track down Barrage exactly?"

"This bell goes around kitty's leg and Barrage will follow the noise." He said putting the bell on the cat and walked over to the door. He opened it and looked out before putting the cat down and it scampered off. "One day there licking milk out of your hand, and the next there heading up dangerous spy missions."

Lee had been getting on her desk and making her way into the vent before looking back down. "There, there, they grow up so fast." She said before grabbed her cell and holding it out. "Let's sink it up, baby." She found herself flushing before beating it back down.

"That's _my_ line." Biff replied before their phones connected and Lee was off.

* * *

"If you drop down now, the second floors stairs are on your left, any further and you'll be right in the middle of the girl's locker room." Biff said through the headset and chuckled.

Lee rolled her eyes as she pulled up the grate she was at. "Thanks for the warning this time." She said before jumping down and looked around the corner, only to pull back with a gasp as Barrage came down the hall and she stuck back against the wall and closed her eyes tightly, only to hear a meow and that bell go running by.

"Who goes there?" Barrage said. "I don't allow vermin in my school." He added before stomping after the cat.

Lee let out a breath as she opened her eyes and kept on walking until she got to the Math room, opening the door to find the Matheletes surrounding Holger, who was tied to a chair and wearing that weird full body suit again.

"Well, well, well, the famous Lee Ping, we finally meet." Erwin said.

Lee resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "We saw each other this morning, dude, drop the evil villain act."

"Lee, they are to make my hair go caflufleshoop." Holger said as the other Matheletes were about to cut off Holger's hair.

"Leave his glorious mane alone." Lee said glaring at them.

"Oh, we've only begun; your little plan to steal the answer to my equation and now your spy is caught." Erwin said crossing his arms.

"I don't care about the equation, my mom made me join the Matheletes," Lee replied pointing at the board, "your uniforms itch and Beth's retainer is…distracting."

"Says you." Beth retorted.

Lee looked back at the board and raised a brow. "Since when is X 1 to the third ever an integer of Y to the power of X?" she questioned erasing the mistake on the board.

All the Matheletes stared. "S-so, you spotted my deliberate error; you always thought you were better than me at Math." Erwin said.

Lee smirked as she picked up a piece of chalk. "Replace thought with knew."

Erwin turned around and glared at her. "Lies, all lies!" he yelled and held up his arms. "Wrist band me." He said before the other Matheletes put bands on his wrists and forehead.

Lee let out a mocking sound. "Oh really? What's it gonna be, dueling chalkboards, or calculater chicken?"

Erwin didn't answer as he just laughed rather creepily and Lee cringed as he walked over to an overhead equation. "You have a lot to learn about Math club." He said pulling it down and it went up to reveal some kind of dance machine. "Rule number one of Math club is-"

"Bring your own protractor." The only other boy in the club said.

"Rule number two is," Erwin said severely before seemingly pulling off his uniform to reveal another white one underneath, "we always dance it out."

"So rule number three is you have to look like a complete idiot?" Lee questioned and had seriously wanted to laugh.

"Solve an equation, get a point." The other boy in the club pointed out.

"The first to seven winds." Beth added.

Lee walked onto one of the platforms. "If I win, will you promise that Holger's hair will be safe?"

The game started up and Erwin smirked. "Eat my Math dust." He said before they started on the game.

During the game, Lee was starting to feel ridiculous herself and was actually starting to work up a sweat. "I know you're the one who framed me for the prank; you sent the e-mail to the skaters."

After the next round, Erwin put his hands on his knees. "Yes, it _was_ me, but I sent it to more than just the skaters." He said before they began the next round.

The only amusing part had been when Erwin did the splits. "Ah, my leg!"

Lee finished the equation before glaring down at him. "That e-mails ruined my life. Why'd you do it?"

"Okay, embarrassed you, maybe," Erwin said as he was helped back to his feet, "but ruined your life, come on. You're such a _girl_."

Lee narrowed her eyes at the slight and glared. "I _am_ a girl!" The Matheletes gasped and she rolled her eyes. "Please, like its that hard to tell." She said waspishly. "Just admit that you're Radcircles at high and give me the rest of the prank plans."

"What are your talking about, I'm not Radcircles, I'm I p freely." Erwin said going over to his computer and brought up the photos of Erwin picture his nose and Lee, who was _not_ and photo shopped them to make it look like she _was._ Lee walked over and took a look at the photos before Erwin ran back to the dance machine and finished the equation so he'd win. "HA! I win, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, you're not a real Math nerd!"

"Dude, you picked your nose to frame me," Lee began with a deadpanned look on her face, "how is that a win?"

"I picked _my_ nose to make it look like you picked _your_ nose!" Erwin shot back.

"Gross!" The other Matheletes chorused as Lee untied Holger.

"Sorry for putting your hair in danger buddy." Lee apologized. "And guys, this guy," she gestured to Erwin, "as a leader, _really?_"

"But, but I beat her." Erwin insisted and pointed at himself. "I'm _better_!"

"So do you need an after school study buddy?" Greta asked leaning in and Lee recoiled.

"Uh, we got problems, you gotta go." Biff said from the headset. "Mr. Rumple is headed towards-"

"Sorry Greta; gotta go." Lee said backing away and running out of the room. She caught the cat at the corner of the hall and scooped it into her arms and heard Barrage's voice.

"I hate cats."

Lee ran down the hall and went to hide in the corner of a locker, just as the cat hissed and sank its claws into her skin and she bit back a cry of pain. This was her earlier statement of never picking up this cat coming back to bite her, wasn't it?

"Oh, I should mention I really need to trim his claws." Biff said through the headset.

Lee couldn't snark back as she was too busy blocking out the pain and cringed further into the corner as she slid down the door and Barrage walked right past them. She let out a breath as she stood up and held the cat to her chest with one hand. "Where too? I'm kinda running blind here." She said before running down a darker hall and casually walked by as she saw two of her friends there. "Cam, Tina." She said in a carefully controlled voice and once she was out of sight she started to run again and made it back to the detention room and Biff put the cat in his shirt as Lee handed it off to him and saw down.

The door slammed open a moment later. "You two see a filthy little feline?"

"Nu-uh." Lee said.

"Nope." Biff said at the same time.

"Dismissed!" Barrage shouted and slammed the door shut.

Lee looked back as Biff took the cat out of his shirt. "About that trim, make sure you his claws _soon_." She emphasised by raising her right arm to show the deep scratches on it.

"Yeah, you should take care of that." Biff replied flippantly.

Lee let out a sound of frustration before storming out of the room. Why did she like him _indeed_?

* * *

Lee laid on her bed, taking a brief look at the band ads on her arm as she put her arms behind her head. It was rather embarrassing to tell her parents that she'd been scratched up by a cat, though something told her it probably would have been better to lie about where she got them.

"I can't believe it wasn't Erwin that pulled off the prank, the motivation, the revenge, the drama, it was all there." She said aloud and heard another screen pop up on her computer.

"Hey bro," Cam's voice rang out, "so I figured out who Radcircles is."

Lee jumped up from her bed and made her way over to the computer. "Really? I so owe you."

"Big time, I want one date with three girls and a hot Math tutor." Cam replied.

Lee closed her eyes. "Uh, sure." She said before opening them. "So, who was it?"

Lee heard rustling outside her window and saw Holger in the tree outside her room. "Want to hug nighty to friend." He said putting his arms out as he tried to reach the open window; only to fall out of the tree.

The door opened before her mother looked in. "Lee, close that window." She said before closing the door.

Lee made her way over to the window and looked out it down at Holger. "Night Holger, next time it might be safer to send me an e-hug…" she paused. "And a little less…stalker-ish."

"Okay." Holger said before groaning.

Lee closed the window and went back over to the computer. "Cam?"

"The Radcircles prank e-mail came from…" Cam paused as he leaned toward the computer, "the old principal's account."

"The one who's missing?" Lee asked in surprise.

"Camilio Esmereldo Martinez, have you done your homework?" An off screen voice called.

"Aw, gotta go bro." Cam said before his screen disappeared.

"The missing principal?" Lee questioned to herself. "Why would he wanna set me up?" she asked before putting a hand to her chin. "Or, could he be trying to tell me something, and…wait a second," she said pausing and smirked, "Esmereldo?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lee heard the overhead speaker go off as she closed her locker door and found both Holger and Cam there and raised a brow in question.

"Happy Fruen Gen Gousen." Holger said.

"What he said, but I call it Friday." Cam added.

"Oh, jah, and happy Friday too." Holger revised.

"So what does Fruen Gen Golf ball mean?" Cam questioned.

"Nothing, Holger pull joke and make up word." Holger replied and laughed. "Funny, jah?" he asked before doing a back flip and landed on the rail on his crotch and stiffly fell off it onto the ground. "Fruen Gen Gousen." He repeated in a strained voice.

Cam let out a chuckle before punching Lee in the arm. "Yo dude, if Friday don't make you smile, that deaf should have. What up bro?"

"This whole prank e-mail thing, it doesn't make sense." Lee said frowning. "Why would our old missing principal send out e-mails telling people to pull pranks?"

"Essay, your brain is fried, put the detective work on si-i-i-immer, we got a fiesta to go to bro." Cam replied.

"Lee's female friend Brandy is having super disco party time." Holger said striking a pose.

"You know, the kind we used to pretend weren't cool but were secretly jealous of?" Cam asked.

"Guys, I'm _grounded_, remember?" Lee questioned as she tried not to scratch at her still bandaged forearm. That cat _really_ sharp claws.

"But dude, you _gotta_ go." Cam replied. "What if super cool status has a self-life?"

Lee shook her head, but heard the metal footsteps coming up from behind and knew what was coming next. "Lee Ping, it is precisely 15.16, you are now officially one minute late for detention private." He said.

Lee started backing away and held onto the strap of her pack nervously. "Uh, I was just on my way." She said before sprinting down the hall.

"Not fast enough." Barrage said and from his metal palm came a next that caught the retreating redhead and dragged her off to the detention room and was dumped in there before he left.

Lee got off the ground and dusted herself as saw Biff was also there and she wondered just what he did this time as he seemed to be in detention all the other times she'd been here. She looked suspiciously at the cat that was now rolling across the boy's desk and he saw this.

"Don't worry, he's gotten his claws trimmed." He said.

Lee nodded before taking her seat and scratched the cat under the chin, the feline purring in response. "You know, you're kinda cute when you're not sinking your claws into my skin." She said sardonically as she let her eyes fall half-closed and smirked. She saw Biff raise a brow and her face twisted in confusion. "What's with you?"

"Nothing, it's just…that face you made…was kinda…" Biff made a roundabout gesture with one hand. "…hot."

Lee stared at him for a long moment, her brain trying to wrap the word 'hot' and describing her both being in one sentence. _No one_ ever said anything like that to her, then again most people still had a hard time grasping the fact she wasn't a boy, so it might not count as much as she thought it did.

She wasn't good with emotions, so she did the one thing she always did when she was sure someone was saying something so absurd about her. She laughed. "That's actually funny, you thinking I'm hot."

"I didn't say _you_ were hot." Biff shot back.

Lee's laughter abruptly stopped and glared at him. While she wasn't a vain girl, how she dressed being a very obvious testament to that point, she did _not_ like it though when her looks were being slighted at. "Are you saying that I'm _ugly_?" she asked in dark voice.

"What? Did I _say_ you were ugly?" Biff questioned and Lee backed off. "You're pretty okay? All I meant was that expression you pulled was…alluring is all."

Lee raised a brow at this, still finding this hard to believe, but started to feel her face heat up as she realized that even though it was offhandedly said, Biff had called her pretty. She looked down at the edge of her seat to avoid letting him see the blush. "So, did you hear about Brandy's party?" she asked offhandedly and wanted to slap herself at how this could be taken.

"Are you…asking me out?" The other teen questioned.

Lee blushed harder. "N-no! I was just making conversation, and it's not like I can go." She said quietly.

The rest of the detention went by in an uncomfortable silence as Lee fidgeted in her seat, her thoughts whirling as she felt like she was going to explode from tension and her feelings were almost desperate for some outlet. And when the door slammed open after the hour and Barrage yelled 'Dismissed!' before leaving that she actually jumped and fell out of her seat and onto the floor.

"Klutzy much?" Biff questioned smirking as he reached down to help her up.

Lee rolled her eyes as she accepted his help, and took in a sharp breath as she was helped up before her emotions found an outlet of their own and she moved her face forward to snap her lips down on his. She pulled back a second later and her face was on fire before she sprinted out of the room faster than she thought she could run.

_'I can't believe I just did that!'_

* * *

Lee tossed a ball up into the air as she laid back on her bed and kept thinking about the kiss earlier. She face flushed just thinking about it, and she wasn't stupid enough to think that this wouldn't have any repercussions. He could have been freaked by the back she kissed him and wouldn't wanna be…were they friends, or something of the like?

Either way, she had probably just blown it or put a massive strain on whatever they had. Not to mention the fact she'd been so freaked out herself by what she'd done that she couldn't tell whether she liked it or not.

She heard her mother's voice just outside her room and was talking to her dad. "We're going to the opera and you have to stay awake."

"That wasn't part of the deal." Her father replied. "And what about Lee, and her weekends?"

"We can talk about it on the drive." Her mother said.

Lee heard a screen pop up on her computer and she put the ball down before sitting up and saw Cam wearing fake facial hair. "Dude, you like the goatee, or the soul patch?" he asked as Lee sat down at the computer. "Chickitas love the facial hair bro."

Another screen popped up, this one showing Holger wearing a mud-mask. "Holger dream of this night since he was a small boy en hauffen."

"Sorry, guys, I can't go, remember?" Lee reminded them. "My dad's on my side, but…" she trailed off as her mom's voice rang out.

"You can't wear sweat pants to the opera."

"You know my mom." Lee finished.

The mud on Holger's face suddenly crumbled away. "But Holger just put the waxing on his under pits; the ladies love the smooth smellings." He said lifting his arm to show the wax strip before pulling it off and letting out a cry of pain. "Ow!"

"Homes, you _gotta_ go, if you don't go we can't get in, you're our hand stamp dude." Cam said. "If not for you, have fun for me, for Holger…"

Lee's cell rang from its charger and she picked it up in confusion. "Brandy?" she said aloud before taking the images of her friends off the screen to keep the conversation private. "Uh, hey?"

"Hey yourself!" Brandy shouted. "Like seriously, why are you on the phone when you should be here?"

"About that, see I'm grounded and-" Lee tried to explain before Brandy interrupted her.

"And this is a way important party!" Brandy yelled. "It's my first event as an official Glamazon; Kimmie is all over me." She paused before there was a muffled conversation before she came back on the phone. "You get your but over here like 10 minutes ago, or I'll tell Barrage that you've been sneaking out of detention! Yeah, I said it, click!" she said before the phone went off.

"Man, I can't let Brandy rat me out." Lee said to herself as she looked over at her open window and assorted items on the floor. "Hmm." She hummed as an idea came to her before looking down at her cell. "And Cam and Holger are right, I do deserve to have some fun." She said before turning off her light and packing stuff under her covers to make it look more like her shape and put a baseball cap at the top of the sheet and pressed a button on her alarm clock before going out the window and landing on the tree branch.

Lee made her way down the tree and to the bus stop, and when she was on she sat down low in her seat and looked at the split screen showing her friends.

"It's back on? Dude!" Cam exclaimed. "Mucho like awesomeness!"

"Holger continue the waxing then jah?" Holger questioned. "Jah." He said before pulling off another wax strip.

"Lee." Her mother said from the phone and the redhead's eyes widened as she pressed down to let the camera of her room come up. "Lee!"

Lee yawned fakely. "Hey mom, I was so tired I went to bed early."

"We'll be back by 11." Her mother said.

"Have a great time." Lee replied as her mother closed the door.

Lee let out a relieved sigh before the bus soon came to a stop and she got off the bus before walking over to the building where the party was, finding Cam also arriving at the entrance. "What happened to the facial hair?"

"Just like my personality, I'm going to go in smooth as silk." Cam replied.

Lee chuckled. "Okay slickster." She said before looking around. "Where's Holger?"

"Aw, don't worry bro, now come on." Cam said pulling Lee into the building where they saw the Matheletes trying to get into the party.

"Hey, you're that prank kid," the security guard said, "I saw a picture of you on the net. Here for the party? Come on in, top floor."

Cam and Lee continued on their way into the elevator and Cam looked over at the Matheletes. "Don't worry kids, you can all read about how awesomely amazing the party is when I send out updates, bye." He said as the elevator closed and when it arrived at the top floor the room was darkened and spotlights moving around the room and Lee was immediately found by Brandy.

"There you are!" she said in exasperation and gave her a scrutinizing once over. "And what are you wearing?"

"My comfortable clothing." Lee replied dryly.

Brandy grabbed Lee by the arm and the redhead looked at Cam for help, but he only shrugged and she rolled her eyes. "Kimmie is already on my grill about everything else, if I let her see that my BFF is all _sloppy_-looking."

Lee blinked and looked down at her clothing. "My clothes aren't sloppy." She protested, but was pulled upstairs before being shoved in a bedroom and Brandy went around the room picking things out before pushing them into Lee's arms. "I expect my clothes to be back on Monday, washed, pressed, and _clean_." She said before leaving.

Lee looked down at the clothing and her face twisted up as she put the blue material in her hands that made up a skirt. She never liked wearing skirts and looked down at her pants before deciding to leave the pants alone as she walked into the bathroom.

And when she came out and joined Cam back downstairs, she held her rest of her clothing in hands. "Hey."

"Hey-" Cam's greeting was changed to a choke as she looked at Lee. "Bro, is that you?"

Lee was wearing her pants, but that was the only thing of her old outfit she had on. She had a blue skirt on over her pants and dark red tank top that left her tattoo and bandage still visible. Her hair wasn't in its usual style either, it was all flattened down and most of her hair was taken up by the red streaks and the layered black at the bottom while her bangs remained the same.

"It's me." Lee replied. "How do I look?"

"Bro, you look like a girl." Cam replied.

Lee resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, thank you for pointing that out." She said dryly as she leaned against the wall and soon Cam moved away from the wall.

"We gotta start mingling, go with the flow." He said. "We're finally here, and we're chilling in a corner? That's not the way Cam rolls. Hello, Lee?" he asked waving a hand in front of Lee's face as she stared at the man using a chainsaw to carve the ice sculpture of Brandy's nose.

"You call that beak a nose?" Brandy questioned. "Make it _smaller_. Crown orange gingerette?" she asked offering Kimmie a glass and the blond took one sip before moving it away in disgust.

"No, ice? Is this a drink or soup? Maybe being a Glamazon really isn't your speed." She said before she and the other two girls moved on.

"Leaping, there you are!" Brandy yelled and gasped in horror as she her pants. "Why are you still wearing those?"

"Because there is no way I'm wearing a just a skirt with no pants." Lee retorted as Cam began pushing the girl over to the other one.

"Well, at least you actually _look_ like a girl now instead of sloppy-looking." Brandy huffed before walking away.

Lee rolled her eyes and she and Cam went over to a couch and saw Cam texting something on his phone. "Heheh. I just texted everyone that there were _robot butlers_ here, good one eh?" he chuckled before an actual robot butler came over. "Whoa!" he exclaimed before chasing after it.

Brandy came over and sat down beside Lee. "So…"

"So…"

"Uh, awesome party, robot butlers? Heh, nice touch." Lee said.

"Here's the deal, I really have to impress Kimmie, so I need my BFF to have my back, kay?" Brandy asked in a more subdued manner.

"We cool about the Barrage thing?" Lee asked.

"Brandy, these pillows are too poufy, and the lame music." Kimmie said.

Brandy looked over at Lee. "You deal with her, I'll deal with the music, please?" she asked and Lee nodded and they both got up.

Lee went over to the blond and her posse before plastering on a smile. "Hi Kimmie." She said and the blond looked at her in some annoyance. "It's Lee Ping, Brandy's BFF." She explained.

Kimmie started circling her with narrowed eyes. "Hmm, bangs are bit messy, and the skirt over pants is so five minutes ago, not to mention that tattoo and bandage." She said and Lee wanted to sigh in frustration. "But you do seem to have _some_ potential not to look like a fashion failure. Just dress in co-ordinating colors and less like you got dressed in the dark."

Lee bit her tongue to stop her retort and reminded herself that while Kimmie have her 'advice' she was too busy to criticize the party. And when Kimmie was done with her 'advice' she and her posse moved on, leaving Lee by the speakers and Cam came over and elbowed her lightly.

"Time to mingle and smooze like a player." He said. "Watch and learn." He said as a blond was walking passed them. "Yo Brad my man, what up, what up, what up?"

The blond saw the bandage that Lee had been sporting all day and the tattoo band around her arm as he seemed to recognize her. "Lee, big fan, and you look great."

Lee flushed as she rubbed the back of her head while the blond moved on and now that the redheaded girl had been identified _as_ Lee, more people started to walk by them.

"Great party." A boy said.

"Thanks." Lee replied.

"Awesome party, Lee." A girl said.

"No, you're awesome." Lee replied and put her hands on her sides. "You know, maybe this was a good idea."

"Chaz Monorainian, anything to say for Monday's party recap?" The boy asked pushing Cam away.

"This is going to be seen in school?" Lee questioned as she started to get panicked. "Where my mom can see it?"

"So, Ping, just how amazing is this party?" Chaz questioned and Lee looked over at the corner where Steve and two other of his jock friends were. She smiled at him and while she wasn't counting on him to recognize her seeing as most had never seen her actually _dress_ like a girl, she _was_ though counting on some male courtesy to happen. He pointed at Chaz and she nodded. "The camera's getting the good side of the back of my head, right?" Chaz questioned.

"Back it up folks." Steve said elbowing Chaz out of the way as Lee moved with the trio. "No pictures."

"Thanks Steve." Lee said and the taller teen looked down at her sharply.

"Ping, is that _you?_" Steve asked perplexed. "You look like a girl!"

"Thank you, I've been getting that a lot lately." Lee replied dryly as she walked over to her friend Cam.

"Look, there's Tina, now go give her your exclusive on the prank." He said pointing over at Tina.

"I can't risk getting caught on camera." Lee replied.

"Then text her and tell her to meet in your VIP suite man." Cam replied.

Lee took out her cell and frowned. "I think Holger's in a situation." She said calling him back.

"Help me Lee, I am so scaried." Holger said upon answering.

"Where are you?" Lee questioned.

"Holger take garbage fun slide through dark tube, now where to go?" Holger asked.

"Look for an elevator and go to the top floor." Lee replied. "I'll try and find a map and call you right back."

Holger let out a gasp on the other line. "The crazy cleaner people."

"From school?" Lee asked in disbelief. "What are they doing here?"

"Excuse me; Lee Ping wants to know what you are doing here." Lee heard Holger say and slapped her forehead and let out a yell. "Sorry, may please I call you back?"

Lee ended her call as she sat down on the steps in front of the punch and Cam walked over. "So, is Tina coming over for the Lee-exclusive?"

"Uh…" Lee raised a brow before she was cut off.

"Leaping, where have you been?" Brandy yelled.

"Seriously?" Lee questioned standing up. "My name is _Lee Ping_; it's a _name_, not an action." She said before storming away.

"Yo, yo, tell her girl." Cam said.

"Ain't nothing but the truth."

"Testify!"

"In case you missed the update in Glamazon outside friendships, the Glamazon rules it, kay?" Kimmie said.

"Man that felt good." Lee said as she walked across the dance floor. "Excuse me, Ping coming through." She said and accidentally bumped into Tina. "Hey."

"Hi Lee, pretty impressive party." Tina replied.

"I don't know; give me rec room pizza party any day." Lee replied. "Remember those?"

"Of course, your orders a mean Hawaiian, not to mention she made you wear those overly girly dresses." Tina teased.

"Tell me about." Lee muttered embarrassedly.

"And now look at you, Lee Ping, at the cool party." Tina said.

"Yeah, and so are you." Lee replied.

"Yeah, I'm covering it for the school news; the social event of the season." Tina said. "So, Cam promised me and exclusive with you about the prank."

"Oh, yeah, well…" Lee replied and saw Chaz and the cameraman coming over. "Whoa, gotta split!" she said turning the other way and made her way through the dance floor.

"Anyone seen my _BFF?"_ Lee heard Brandy grate out before Lee opened the back stairwell and leaned against.

"Ah." She said softly before looking at the map on the side of the wall and called Holger up. "Holg, I found a map; where are you?"

"In stinky room, many dirty files." Holger said and gasped. "The Tatzelwurm?" he said and yelled out in surprise before the line went dead.

"Holger?" Lee asked worriedly. "Holger! Tatzelwurm?" she questioned before ending the call and heard the door open and Cam came out. "Dude, Holger's lost in the basement with the _Tatzelwurm_ or something."

"Just sending out another update to all my peeps who couldn't get in." Cam replied. "You really dissed Tina back there."

"What? No, Chaz and his stupid camera were coming over." Lee replied.

"Nah, nah, you did the right; don't want anyone else to get the scoop on Tina right?" Cam questioned. Lee frowned and shook her head. "Let's get em to crank up the music, Holger's party sense will pick it up and he'll be here in like no time."

A short while later, Lee and Cam were on the dance floor, but only Cam was actually dancing as Lee was too nervously to actually to anything other than stand there.

"Come one, bust a move, bro." Cam insisted.

"I'm more of a stander than a dancer." Lee replied.

"No BFF rules the Glamazon friendship." Brandy said coming over and dragging Lee over to the center stage where they were in view of the other Glamazons. The girl glared at the redhead through her sunglasses. "Dance; or Barrage gets a voice mail, _tonight_."

Brandy started dancing as Lee awkwardly followed along with it and the DJ, Lynch spoke over the microphone. "Let's bring it down." He said as the lights lowered and the music got more 'romantic' as the other students started pairing off.

"You'd better not expect me to dance with you for _this_ type of song." Lee muttered.

Brandy huffed and crossed her arms. "I wasn't going to say that." She said and looked up at the folded back curtains and her jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Lee asked as a sinking feeling formed in her stomach.

"You kissed Biffy Goldstein?" Brandy questioned and Lee's eyes widened.

"What; where did you hear that?" Lee questioned as a light flush crossed her face and Brandy pointed upwards and Lee looked behind her and her felt her face burn brightly as she saw that the picture of her kissing Biff in detention earlier was on a projector for the whole room to see. She knew that even when the image was gone the damage had already been done. It also made her wonder just _who_ took that picture.

Lee saw the cameraman pointing the camera at her and she gasped before Brandy looked at her with crossed arms. "Explain that." She said referring to where the picture had previously been.

"It was…an accident?" Lee questioned more than stated as she really didn't know _what_ had been going through her mind when she decided to kiss her detention buddy that she sorta, maybe had crush on.

Kimmie came over with the rest of her posse. "The hot tub's too hot, and you're out of designer cupcakes. You call this a party?" she scoffed before walking away.

Brandy sighed in frustration and looked at Lee with an expression that clearly stated she didn't believe her. "To be continued." She said before turning away. "Coming Kimmie!"

Lee looked over at the DJ table as the music changed back to upbeat and narrowed her eyes as she made her way over, only to get stopped by Tina.

"What was with _that_?" she asked referring to the image. "I never knew you liked Biffy."

"Well, I kinda do." Lee replied quietly. "And…he called me pretty earlier."

"I know you Lee; you wouldn't just kiss some guy if he called you pretty." Tina retorted.

"Look, we both know that I'm not that good with expressing my emotions, and I just didn't know what else to do." Lee replied and ran her hand through her hair. "And knowing me I probably just wrecked it all. Oh, he's going to kill me on Monday." She groaned.

"You're gonna have to talk to him about this." Tina replied wisely. "You know that right?"

Lee frowned and she knew her friend was right. "Ya, I know."

"Now it's time to rip up the dance floor with the song you've all been waiting for: Lee Ping's prankster number 1!" Lynch said over the microphone. "Can ya dig it?" he asked putting the record needle on the record and green light washed over the room.

Lee frowned. "Prank song? This song?" she asked pointing vaguely to the overhead speakers and grinned slightly. "It is a rad song." Her grin faded as she saw the spaced out look on her friend's face. "Uh, Tina? Uh, you wanna, dance?"

"You want to dance?" Tina questioned in a trance-like voice.

Lee shrugged and started to sway before raising her arms. "Let me hear ya whoop, whoop!" she said closing her eyes smiling. "Let me see ya get down." Her eyes snapped open as she noticed that everyone had done what she said and looked around startled. "Weird. Uh, get on up." She said and everyone stood up. "Get on…down?" she asked and they dropped to the floor. "Go…crazy?" she asked and everyone began running away while flailing their arms and started wrecking the room. "Stop, stop! Just…dance." She said and everyone began to do just that.

"What's going on?" Lee asked aloud and looked over at the DJ table before noticing the camera pointed at her. "Nu uh, give me that tape." She said and she was handed the tape. "Okay, this is _way_ weird." She said and the power suddenly went out, all the students groaned in confusion before the lights and music came back on they went back to dancing.

"This is brought to you by the good people at Green Apple Splat! It's just the splattiest, everyone drink some." Lynch said over the microphone. "Now." he added and everyone went over to the fountain.

Lee raised both brows and caught Tina by the shoulder. "Tina, what's going on?" she asked and Tina growl at her, causing the redhead to back off. "Whoa!"

"Who is responsible for this?" Barrage's voice came blaring through the speakers and the lights faded back to normal and the music faded as well.

"What was all that about?" Lee asked as Tina grabbed her head.

"What was what about?" Tina asked confused.

"If it isn't local hero, girl of the hour, Lee Ping." Chaz said as the camera was pointed at her.

"Give me the tape." Lee said glaring before her eyes widened. "I-_command_ you."

"Ohh, you command me?" The cameraman asked mockingly.

"This just in." Chaz said pushing Lee off to the side. "Has Lee Ping's newfound popularity gone straight to her nogen?"

"I don't get it," Lee said bewildered to herself, "was it Barrage's voice that broke the spell?" she heard banging on the door before a bunch of other students came charging in and headed over to Brandy and Cam just as Kimmie arrived.

"This party is pretty awesome." She said. "I may have been wrong about you. You're perfect for the Glamazons."

"Really?" Brandy asked excitedly and gave Cam his cell back. "Do more!"

Lee gave a glance to the speakers and made her way over to the DJ table. "Lynch, right? Where'd you get that song?"

"Cyrus, from the Dudes of Darkness slipped me that dozy, said it was top of the pops!" Lynch replied.

Lee put a hand to her chin. "Cyrus? Really? Notice anything _weird_ about it?"

"If you mean get feet on the floor, then yeah!" Lynch said crossing his arms before flaring them out. "It's crazy weird!" he said before offering her a can. "Green Apple Splat? It's the splattiest."

Lee made a passing motion that said no and saw her friend going by. "Tina, hey, wait up." She said and the other girl stopped. "Look, if you still want an interview…"

"Yes, I would like that interview." Tina said, but Lynch came back over the microphone.

"Back by popular request, here is again, brought to you by the only drink that will make you splat-tac-tac, Green Apple Splat!" he said as the lights went green again.

Lee saw Tina's expression go spacey again and groaned. "Not again." She said before her eyes widened. "Holg!" she said and dialed his number on her cell and heard his odd sounding voice mail. Lee saw the whole room suddenly go nuts and soon Barrage's voice came over the speakers again and snapped everyone out of it.

"I make it!" Holger said coming over and bringing Lee into a hug. "But late, must be makings up on the dancey time."

"Past 11? Oh no." Lee said putting her hand on her head. "I gotta jet or I'm so busted." She said heading to the door while getting her clothes she'd left by the exit and looked back at the crowd. "Ping out!" she said and they all cheered before taking off.

* * *

"Come on, change; in a hurry here." Lee said furiously pushing the button to make the light turn green with one hand while holding her clothes in the other.

"I can't believe you fell asleep." Lee's eyes widened as she heard her mother's voice right beside her.

"What did you expect, it was a production of Sleeping Beauty." Her father replied.

"Mom, dad?" Lee said questioningly before she could stop herself and ducked down behind the bench to avoid being spotted. She watched the light turn green and the SUV speed off. Lee stood back up and began running the rest of the way and when she made it; she had to stop short as her mom's car was in the parking lot. She made her way back up her tree while carrying her clothes in her teeth and wen in through her window and into the covers, pulling them up to her neck as the door opened and she peeped out from under her lashes before opening them with a smile "Hey, mom, how was the opera?" she asked as she tried not to sound to breathless. "Dad stay awake?"

"He tried," her mother replied smiling, "good night daughter. Next week, _maybe_ you can go to the movies."

"Really?" Lee asked before yawning. "That'd be great. Good night." She added as she closed her eyes and waited for the door to close and sat back up before going over to her computer and bringing up a search on the Dudes of Darkness. "Did you guys create that song and set me up?" she questioned before her phone vibrated and Cam's voice came over from the other line.

"Check the news, girl." He said chuckling. "You're like, famous."

"You are Lee _King_," Holger said as his voice came over the phone as well, "of disco party."

Lee clicked her phone off before bringing up the news footage on her computer to see Brandy talking to an anchor.

"Well, it to celebrate and my new BFF Leaping, I mean Lee Ping. She was just here." Brandy said and Lee let out a gasp of horror.

"If you just tuned in-" Lee turned off the volume on her computer and heard it coming from down stairs.

"-live at a party in the presence of prankster Lee Ping!"

"No!" Lee groaned.

"Lee Ping!" his mother yelled from downstairs.

Lee slapped her forehead and thought about all she had to deal with now. _'I was so close to being home free.'_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lee was on the bus, listening to a Dudes of Darkness song on her cell phone and looked up when she heard her friend's voice come onto the bus.

"No way, that would never happen!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, way, it would always happen." Holger retorted.

"Yo Lee, you gotta settle this bro; if you're a zombie okay, are you gonna launch your sneak attack in a subway or like in a stinking sewer?" Cam questioned.

Lee raised a brow at this.

"But keep in noddle in sewer many delicious rats." Holger added. "Delicious, jah!"

"There's no rats in the game dude!" Cam retorted elbowing Holger. "Then you wouldn't even _need_ a sneak attack, you can't feed on 'em if it's not there."

"Umbiance, Holger set mood." The blond said.

"Aw mood-smood." Cam retorted.

"No mood pomber-snood." Holger replied.

Lee couldn't take watching anymore of this as she'd pressed paused on her cell to politely hear what they were talking about, but this speak of eating rats made got her disgusted. "Guys, I have bigger problems than another video game squabble. Thanks to Brandy's party I'm grounded for every single weekend until Holidays. Like _ever_." She said and held up her cell. "But I've been listening to the DoD songs and there metal not techno, and they don't even have the prank song up on their site."

"Ombre, you gotta drive yourself _crazy_ with all this prank stuff." Cam said as the bus stopped and they got off at the stop.

"But DJ Lynch said the Dudes of Darkness gave him the prank song to play at the party; it _must_ be theirs." Lee replied. "And so they must have-"

"The super fantastic taste in music?" Holger said in a fast paced voice.

"No." Lee said as she rolled her eyes. "They must have done the prank! How else is their unknown techno song hosting the big prank?"

"Uh, what?" Cam asked confused.

"Uh okay you guys are both clueless." Lee said walking away and as they arrived at school, she felt the stirrings of nervously begin to cloud her thoughts, but pushed them back. "I'm telling you, the song has some sort of hypnotic effect. Don't either of you remember? From the party?"

"Dude you can't hypnotize people in real life." Cam replied. "That's TV and comic books covro."

"Have you blocked out my 10th birthday party, the hypnotist, the amazing Finwich?" Lee asked pointing at him and smirking. "You as a monkey?"

"Please homeslice, if there's one thing I can guarantee it's that nobody can be hypno-" Cam tried to say before Lee cut him off.

"Butterscotch." She said as Cam starting to jump around like a monkey and Holger hid behind her.

"Monkey!" he squeaked.

"Oh, sorry Holg, forgot about your blinding fear of primates." Lee apologized before they walked in and once they were inside she said, "Queen of Hearts."

"-notized." Cam said reverting back to normal. "Nobody can penetrate this mind anyway." He said pointing to his head, then starting looking around in confusion. "Hey, when did we come in here?"

"Whew." Holger sighed.

"Huh, Dudes of Darkness." Lee said as the band starting walking by them and she tried to garner their attention. "Hey, got a question about the song-"

"Rooock on!"

Lee slumped as she let out a sigh and decided to try later before heading off to first period and soon the morning news report came on. She was lucky that no one seemed to remember the image shown at the party, but while she knew that all it'd take was someone to bring it up and the whole school would know.

If they didn't already.

"Hey are you ready for an audio assault, A. Nigma high? Cause today is," Chaz made his voice go deeper, "'Battle of the Bands.'"

"For two years in a row, the DoD have come in first place, will their reign continue for a third?" Tina questioned holding up a picture of the band.

"We went live to the streets to get the straight dilio on the other bands." Chaz added and the screen cut away to the Glamazon posse.

_"Kimmie, so great to talk to you, you're so thin, question on everyone's lips, is this your hair for the show or do you have a surprise in store? Requalifishiers are dying to know, I know I am."_

_Tina suddenly came on screen and put a mic in front of Brandy's face. "Brandy, is it true you lip sync? And what's it like living in Kimmie's shadow?"_

_"You're cute when you try to be tough, but I can't really take your hair seriously." Brandy replied._

"Girls no want to make nice." Holger pointed out.

"Yeah, I noticed." Lee said blandly before raising her hand. "Uh, Mr. Langhorn, I need to go to the bathroom. Like, now."

"At the risk of sounding like one of your compatriots, don't ya think you could just…hold it in?" The teacher asked.

"Hold it in?" Lee questioned incredulously. "Are you forgetting the PSAs we watched last week?" she asked before going to the teacher desk and he handed her the hall pass, but before she could sprint out, he coughed.

"Ahem! Are _you_ forgetting the film on running in the halls?"

"Right." Lee replied and walked out of the room before heading down the hall. "So far so good, you know as long as I don't run into-" she cut herself off as Barrage rounded the corner.

"Why if it isn't everybody's favorite crackerjack with a slid of flappedy flapjack. Lee Convict Ping," he said, "roaming the halls without a care in the world; not even bothering to take a simple solid trip to the classroom."

"Pass?" Lee asked as she held up the hall pass.

"Oh, you can go." Barrage said. "For now!" he said before marching down the hall.

Lee looked at the boy's bathroom sign, hearing the playing from inside and _sooo_ didn't want to go in there. Not only was it embarrassing for her, but it would only make people think she was weird. She swallowed her pride and went inside, intently focusing on anything _but_ the urinals on the wall. "Hey, nice jams, about that prank song."

The member in the hood suddenly stared at her in accusation. "Man, what did you do to Cyrus?"

"Your song messed our front man waaaay up." The tall one with the hat and sunglasses said.

"My song?" Lee asked pointing at herself and raised a brow. "I thought it was yours."

The door to the stall opened and Cyrus came out, letting a bottle of Green Apple Splat fall to the floor. "Whoa, where did I leave my Green Apple Splat?" he asked hastily as he seemed to freak out over this. "Oh, there it is." He said walking over to the urinals that Lee was steadfastly ignoring.

"Hi." Lee said giving a small wave and a slight grin, but it faded when she was grabbed by the front of her shirt and dragged forward into the stall and wanted to say how awkward this was, but since no one here seemed to _realize_ that she was a girl, she wasn't saying anything to get her kicked out of the bathroom. She'd leave soon enough on her own.

"Yo, Cy, come on!" One of the band members yelled.

"So, the uh," Lee scratched the back of her head for a moment, "the prank song-"

"Oh, I know, it's so heavy! How'd you hit that screwedly D note? Or the inspiration for the awesome reverb foot stomping by five or six? You gotta tell me something, I mean anything, anything!" Cyrus shouted.

Lee had felt her eyes grow wider with each word said and had a hard time figuring out _what_ he was saying. "Huh?" Was the only thing she could say to all that.

"Song, man, your prank song." Cyrus said slowly. "How'd you record it? How'd you come up with it, it's _a pure epic blast_."

"Back up." Lee said holding up a hand. "Didn't you guys make the song?"

"Nah man, I just recorded it during the prank on my cell, heard the beats, hit record, got obsessed and sent it dude." Cyrus replied as he voice got quiet.

"But Lynch told me you gave him the song." Lee replied.

"I _did_ but what I want is the original song. There's too much background noise; people screaming, whispering, bla blab bla." Cyrus replied.

"So the recording you have has all the background sounds and stuff?" Lee asked as her voice gained more hope to it. "From the prank? Cha-ching."

"Dude, it bits!" Cyrus said. "I want a clean copy, you gotta give it to me, you gotta!"

Lee was starting to get justly freaked out when he reached for her and she fell out of the stall and got back to her feet a safe distance away.

"We need to practice." The one in the hood said.

"We rehearse, but we do the prank song." Cyrus said.

"We're a _rock_ band, we don't play club music, never have, never will!" The one in the hood replied.

"Then maybe it's time for this dude to split and find a new band." Cyrus said putting his headphones over his ears.

"Uh, Cy, before you quit the band, can you give me a copy of the song?" Lee asked.

"Quit-the-band." Cyrus said in a trance-like voice and walked out of the washroom.

"What did you just do?" The one in the hood questioned before he and the other band members started chasing after him. "Cy, wait! Let's talk about this!"

Lee walked the door close before hearing a toilet flush and the stall door busted open, revealing the one person she didn't want to see at this moment, and he did _not_ look happy. "Biffy? What are you doing here?" she asked nervously before realizing how stupid that must have sounded. "I mean, besides the obvious."

"I was eavesdropping while they rehearsed; you just haven't lived until you've heard Cyrus' vocals echo off a urinal." Biff replied. "And what are _you_ doing here, you're not a boy."

Lee tried not look at said urinals. "Thank you for pointing out the obvious." She muttered and made a point to avoid looking at the other teen. "And uh, I'll try to remember that."

"Remember this." Biff said leaning down threatening and backed Lee into the way of the exit. "The DoD are my all-time favorite band," he said before kicking her out of the washroom and Lee's back hit the row of lockers, "and you split up my band."

Lee felt her anger rise and knew that this probably wasn't the best time to try and talk about the kiss as he looked ready to kill her any minute now. "Me, how is this my fault?"

Biff grabbed her by the side of her arms and dragged her to her feet. "Oh, you other than suggesting he quit?" he scowled at her and they heard footsteps. He looked over his shoulder briefly and let go of her as the vice principal came over.

"Well isn't that nice to see you two getting along so swimmingly." She said before continuing on down the hall. "Ta ta."

"Bye vice principal Victoria." They both chimed and Biff shoved Lee back against the locker.

"Today is the one day I'm not getting detention." He said and pointed at her with one hand while the other was still gripping her shirt. "Cause nothing is going to get in the way of me enjoying the show."

"Sure, nothing," Lee replied quickly but couldn't help roll her eyes, "except the fact that they just broke up." She snarked, though when he reeled his fist back, she curled down as he hit the locker right where her head had been. "Ah!"

"When I get upset my anger seems to know no bounds," Biff said threateningly before pushing her against the locker again, "and so if I were you, I'd find a way to fix this. Not only will I never help you again, but for a few seconds I can forge that you're a girl and show you just how much of a bully I _can_ be." He said cracking his knuckles.

Lee cringed into the lockers as her fear came back. He knew that he was talking to a _girl_, but she wondered if he also thought with the mentality that 'Tomboy' equals 'can also take a _hit_ like a boy.' And while she certainly wasn't weak, she _was_ at a severe biological disadvantage and it _hurt_ when she got shoved around.

So until she sorted this whole thing out, it also meant that any talk of that kiss was _not_ going to be brought up at all.

Well, Lee could count the fact he was threatening her because of that as the reason a win, but she was in no position to think of anything as a win right now. "Right, I'll get on that." She said faintly and slipped away back to class.

* * *

During the Dodgeball game in class, her being with the boys due to (again) the gender confusion of her name on the P.E requirement. And her mother wonders why she got a C in this class last year…

Lee was in her gym clothing and saw the DoD in the hood catch the ball. "Hey, about what happened earlier…"

"Forget that guy!" The teen yelled throwing the ball at the other side. "We're done being Cyrus' backing band." He said. "We gotta retool; we are _not_ going to play Cyrus' hand-me-downs."

"Yeah, we're a band." The big member of the band said knocking at ball at Erwin and taking him out of the game and they all gathered around in a group.

"But what about your fans? If you guys don't play you'll let 'em all down." Lee said. _'And I'll end up black and blue_.' She thought privately.

"The DoD official rock biography shall show it was _Cyrus_ who let down the fans, not the _real_ Dudes." The one in the hood said.

"But dude-of darkness," Lee added uncertainly, "what better way to unveil your new band than showing everyone at the Battle of Bands that you rock?"

"Rooock!" The blond one shouted.

"He's right," The one in the hood said and Lee backed away while biting her lip to say that she _wasn't_ a he, "we go out there, rock hard, and show the fans the DoD isn't all about Captain Top hat. The Dudes are back!"

* * *

Lee walked down the hall, her thoughts turning about how everyone thought the band was nothing without their singer and she made her way over to her friends. "Hey, you get the stuff? I need a new look to hit the halls and look for Cyrus."

Holger reached into the locker and pulled out a hanger that sported a black detailed jacket lined with purple and a black flared out skirt. "I get you chic Euro jacket."

"Nah man, she needs _edge_, who even knows what chic _means_." Cam said.

"You be extra cool jah with the girl en hauffen with the violin lessons?" Holger asked, holding up a picture of when she had been younger and playing a violin after giving her a pair of purple tinted sunglasses with the jacket.

"Holger, where did you _get_ that?" Lee asked frowning. "And that's not exactly Euro chic." She said pointing at it.

"That's why you gotta keep it edgy yo!" Cam added.

"Guys, relax, I'll take it all; I'll be Euro edgy girl or whatever kay?" Lee questioned.

"And chic." Holger pointed out.

"Totally, can you guys just do me one more solid? With Biffy out I need some Barrage recon, maybe you guys could…?" Lee asked trailing off.

"Call you if he like splits from the show?" Cam questioned. "No problemo! I'll be your eyes and ears."

"No, Holger be eyes, _you_ ears." Holger said pointing at himself.

Lee rolled her eyes as she let out a sigh of disbelief.

* * *

"Well, well, if it ain't the merry little prankster all on her lonesome." Barrage said. "I'd cry," he said sarcastically, "if I had tear ducts! Reminds me of being stuck without rations in the Sahara; I had to eat my own leg without one drop of sauce, imagine _that_ while you're stuck _here_, and the Battle of the Bands just rages over there."

Lee watched him leave before moving under her desk and came up wearing a different outfit, on top at least. Her pants were still on, but there was a skirt over it, and the black jacket was over her top, zippered up and wearing the purple sunglasses, a red scarf around her neck.

Lee fixed the light purple wig that covered her hair and the black headband on it to keep it in place so it won't fall off before reaching for the door handle and opening it, only to reveal Biff standing there.

"Whoa!" he said upon seeing her, but shook his head as he looked around the room and looked back down at her. "So, the Dudes are playing, _without Cyrus_, way to go!" he shouted. "Look, without Cyrus, they are not the DoD, you can't just remove one of them or it'll all fall apart!" he shouted and pointed at her. "Get my band back together, or you're gonna look like a human pretzel!"

Lee's eyes widened behind the sunglasses. "Got it, on it." She said walking past him and into the hall. '_And here I thought I'd never have to wear a skirt again_.' She thought as she walked through the hall and heard their comments.

"Who's that girl?"

"Is she a new DoD?"

"Can't be, she's a girl."

"Maybe there going diverse?"

"Well I want her autograph!"

"No, me first!"

Lee looked back at the crowd and started running down the hall before hiding being a locker and watched them all run by and moved back down the other way with a sigh of relief before deciding to check the boy's washroom again. She shuddered as she walked in and saw the bottles of Green Apple Splat, and heard her phone ring and checked the time. "DoD on stage in…_thirty minutes?_ Gah, Cyrus?" she called and opened a stall. "You here?" she said staring at the teen huddled up and pressing something on his cell. "You okay man?"

"I am okay." He replied in that spacey voice. "…man." He added.

"He's in a trance." Lee mused and put a hand to her chin. "Cy, I want you to rejoin the band and give me the song."

"I will rejoin the band and give you the…" Cyrus looked up angrily. "Never! My awesome beats." He said jumping up over the stall wall and running out.

"What? No, wait!" Lee yelled and chased after him.

"Stop!" Barrage's voice yelled. "Cool your engines; check the anti-freeze, cause no one zipper zaps through my hallways. Do I _know_ you?" he questioned looking at Lee. "You look awful familiar."

"No." Lee said in a slightly more feminine voice to try and fool him. "No, I don't think so, it's my first day."

"Sure I know you, you both should be over at the musical jim-jamborie am I right?" Barrage questioned.

"The show is _now?_" Cyrus asked after snapping out of the trance. "I gotta get to my gig; there aren't any Dudes without the King of darkness."

_'Cyrus isn't hypnotized anymore, what happened?'_ Lee thought and her mind went back to the party on Friday and how the party-goers had snapped out of it when Barrage's voice came over the speaker. _'Barrage's voice snaps people out of the trance, as long as Cyrus doesn't hear the song again, he can stay like this.'_

"You know boy and girl, Barrage used to be somewhat of a crooner himself." Barrage said as he started singing and both Lee and Cyrus' eyes widened. "That's all you're gettin'!" he yelled and walked back down the hall.

Lee let out a sigh as Cyrus held his head. "Man, what's going on, it's like I'm in a fog or something."

"Long story, you have to be on stage in like, _minutes._ Short version, you were brainwashed by the prank song; it's got this hold over anyone that listens to it." Lee explained.

Yo, babe, nice try, music might be the most ultimate power in existence, but it can't do that." Cyrus retorted and put his headphones back on. "Check it out."

"No, _wait!_" Lee shouted and Cyrus started acting weird again.

"No one can have the awesome beats of awesomeness, _no one_." He said tossing her into a locker and shutting it before running off.

"Note to self; next time, take away the song," Lee said to herself, "then explain the song." She started banging on the locker door to get out and soon enough the door opened and she fell out. "Thanks guys."

"Your welcome." Both of them said.

Lee got back to her feet. "Any clue on how much time I have left?"

"As your _better_ friend," Cam began, "I have the program right here," he said holding up a paper and stopped Holger from taking it, "only one band before the DoD, Essay, like five minutes max."

"Gotta find Cyrus." Lee said and began her search, thinking that he might be going to the Battle of the Bands in the gym and she went in through the backstage door. She looked around before she was dragged forward by the front of the jacket and lifted off her feet. "Gah!"

"You better have good news." Biff said darkly.

"There's a half off sale at the big and bulky store?" Lee offered and Biff moved back slightly before glaring at her again.

_"Better_ news." He growled.

"My plans in motion?" Lee offered. "I swear, I know how to fix this. I just gotta find Cyrus. Any chance he's here somewhere?"

"The rafters, he's got some sort of a Phantom of the Opera vibe going on." Biff said before chuckling. "Oh man, he is so _deep_." He said before looking at his empty hands.

"I've got this." Lee said going up the ladder. "I'll make sure to get an autograph from your boyfriend." She said and wanted to punch herself since she wanted the bigger teen to be _her_ boyfriend. Or at least, something of the like, and only after they actually _talked_ about the dang kiss.

Lee made her way into the rafter walkway and found Cyrus playing on pans while still listening to that song. "Cyrus, you've got to listen to me, take off your headphones. The Dudes are about to play without you, but they_ need_ you, your _fans_ need you." She said and accidentally knocked over a bottle of the Splat.

"My Splat." Cyrus said in horror before glaring at her and jumped at her with a growl and tackled her out onto the rafter walkway.

Lee dodged a shove before Cyrus shoved her off the rafter and she fell down, the crowd gasping as her foot got caught in the rope, and when it came lose she landed on her feet and the crowd cheered. She noticed her friends throw a violin her way and she stared at it strangely before playing along to the music and soon heard the crowd chant they wanted Cyrus and stopped playing the violin to look up at the empty rafters and heard her cell ring.

"Lee, it's me Holger from school." Holger said.

"I know who you are, Holger!" Lee snapped.

"I see the Barrage, he is at exit door." Holger said as Lee listened to her next caller.

"Lee, Barrage is near the exit door." Cam said.

"Guys, I'm kinda busy, so unless you can summon Barrage's voice-Whoa!" Lee said as she got an idea. "Barrage's voice, get me Barrage's voice, give him the phone."

"Will do/Holger out." Both voices said and the crowd started booing and throwing things at the stage.

Lee looked over the crowd and saw Cam give Barrage the phone and grabbed the mic before putting her cell on it.

"Who is this?" Was the echo around the room and Cyrus landed on the stage.

"I'll tell ya who this is, it's Cyrus! The original Dude of the Dark!" Lee shouted into the microphone and the crowd cheered.

"Let's do this!" Cyrus said looking at his band. "Together." He said and they all put their fists together and they began to play their song, even Lee being included in it.

"We totally rooocked!" The blond one said.

"Cy, does this mean you're back?" The one in the hoodie asked.

"Back? I never left bro." Cyrus replied

"Lee, that sound, maybe we can lay down some tracks." The one in the hoodie said.

Lee was surprised as she assumed that they had thought she was a boy. "How'd you recognize me?"

"Your voice gave it away." The big one said shrugging. "You expect us to be in a band and _not_ be able to be able to recognize voices?

"Oh." Lee said rubbing the back of her neck.

"You in?" The one in the hoodie asked.

"Not really my thing." Lee replied. "Besides, you four are the true DoD, I'm just the…Chick." She said as she almost choked over the last word.

"Whatever babe, we _owe_ you." Cyrus replied.

"Okay, how 'bout a copy of the prank song?" Lee questioned.

"Dude, seriously? I was gonna erase it, but sure, your funeral." Cyrus said forwarding her the song.

"Awesome!" Lee exclaimed. "I mean, you know, cool." She said trying to sound less excited about getting another clue.

"Take this too!" Cyrus said putting his Tophat on her head.

"But, it's your trademark." Lee protested.

"So'all good, got a closet full of them at home!" Cyrus replied putting on another Tophat.

Lee heard her phone ringing and answered it as Cam's voice came over it. "Dude, Barrage is totally leaving!"

"Barrage is gonna make it back to detention before me, I'm toast!" Lee replied.

"No worries bro, forget about the awesome power of rock and roll?" Cyrus questioned before they starting singing and Lee dived into the crowd and was carried over the students and started to get worried as she noticed she was going in Barrage's direction.

"Other way, other way." She said. "Put me down." She said before she was grabbed and her feet were brought down to the floor by Biff.

"Shouldn't you be in detention?" he asked.

"Am I glad to see you." Lee said smiling beatifically at him as she placed the Tophat on his head. "Gotcha something." She said before she was slung onto his back and carried back to the detention room. She slid into her seat and took the outfit off to reveal her regular clothing and tossed them into the vent above her desk, along with the wig and headband. "Thanks buddy."

Biff gave her a thumbs up. "Oh, and about that kiss," he said and Lee froze up, "not bad." He said before closing the door.

Lee relaxed in her seat as a blush appeared on her cheeks. While she knew they still had _a lot_ to talk about, it was nice to know what he thought of it at least.

The door opened and Barrage looked in. "4:15 inspection private! You missed quite a show, Ping; dismissed." He said before walking away.

* * *

"I'm a little scared to listen to it after what it did to Cyrus." Lee told Cam and Holger's web cams as she looked at the song on her cell. "Maybe it takes a lot of listens to get _really_ messed up though. But what if it puts _me_ under a spell too."

"I told you bro, ain't no such thing." Cam said.

"Butterscotch." Lee said flatly and Cam started acting like a monkey. Holger freaked before closing his screen. "Queen of Hearts." She added and Cam went back to normal.

"Know what I'm saying?" he continued.

"Ha! Good night dude." Lee said shutting off her computer just as her mother opened her door.

"Lights out!" she said shutting off the lights.

Lee got out of her seat and went over to her bed. "What a day, I nearly got outted at the concert, but I finally got _the_ prank song. But if the Dudes didn't record it, who did?" she asked as she hesitantly put her finger over the play button. "Time to brainwash myself…or not?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Even if does mess me up, I have to listen to it," Lee said rubbing the back of her head as she leaned against the lockers, "and it's not like it could make me feel any worse right now." she said before hitting play and closing her eyes, letting the techno mix hit her ears and snapped her eyes open. "What was that?" she questioned aloud and rewound it. "Someone's saying 'switch the bag'?" she questioned and heard the warning bell ring and made her way to first period, hearing the sound of sneezing along the way.

"Good morning A. Nigma high, I'm Tina Kwee." Tina started.

"And more importantly, I'm Chaz Monorainian, and in case you weren't horribly aware of the terrible flu that is ripping through the school," Chaz said before putting a medical mask on, "and I won't be going down without a fight."

"Oh, Lee don't look so good." Holger said as Lee coughed as she looked over her computer screen.

"I think I got what everyone else has." She said as her nose started to get stuffy.

"Have some of mama's germ go bye, bye pie, it make you strong like ox, hmm?" Holger said showing her a steaming pan of…something. "Handsome like ox too." She said sniffing it and had to hold down the bile that was rising in her throat. "It made from gigales, chicken legs, and noslegnoff, so you not get snotty in the face mouth." He said before eating the gray gooey looking stuff and offered it up still.

Lee put her hands over her mouth as she tried not to look at the gray stuff and Tina continued reading the news. "As with all common flus, it's best to drink plenty of water and get lots of rest."

"Holger eat extra so no get sick." Holger said. "Me no miss big special premier of movie Space Zombie Virus three, first hundred people get cool space zombie masks."

"Is this the Chilean piregan fluey flu flu, the dreaded space zombie flu?" Chaz questioned and Holger gasped.

"A. Nigma high, it's just a normal everyday flu." Tina assured. "No need to panic."

"No, panic now. Before the coughing, sneezing, itchy butt cramps and crazy hallucinations turn your brain to brain to space zombie goo!" Chaz yelled as he hid behind the news desk and the principal came into the newsroom.

"Okay you slock tramping, cough splattering whohaas," he said and started seizing up, "whenever I get sick my robot parts start to go all loop-de-loo. Listen up, you might all be as sick as a sandog, but I'm not going home to mama, and neither is anyone else." He added as his robots arm starting spinning around. "We ain't gonna let some eeny, meeny, chicken weeny virus beat us, we stay the course! We're A. Nigma high."

"Principal Barrage, shouldn't students who are sick go home?" Tina questioned.

"No one leaves!" Barrage shouted. "Not even the germs." He said as the sounds of the exits started echoing through the school.

* * *

"Whoa close one, everyone is like mucho sick to the max," Cam said as he caught up with Lee and Holger after class let out, "whatevs, you guys ready for Space Zombies and all the brains you can eat or what?" he said pretending to move like a zombie over towards them.

"Back off zombie menace, space marine Holger stop you." Holger said pretending to shoot him and Cam pretended to get shot. "Your father ate my dog." He said 'firing' another 'shot' before both of them started laughing and Lee let out a cough into her hand.

"Yo Ping, what gives, no 'ptchew' too?" Cam asked.

"Oh, Lee is caflufershanked jah?" Holger said as Lee blew her nose out into a tissue she had.

"Oh no, Lee's sick too? But free space zombie masks bro and mucho 'pchu, pchu'" Cam said before waving it off. "Aw well, it sucks to be you homes."

"Yeah, everyone's sick, maybe it's a side effect from the prank song?" Lee offered.

"Okay, first you think the song like hypnotizes people, and now you think it makes you sick? You're paranoid Floyd." Cam said.

"What?" Lee muttered as she saw the Tatzelwurm go roaming along the locker and saw it suddenly have a Tophat, monocle, cane, moustache, and seemed to be dancing in some manner. She blinked as she saw it slither away and wondered if she was starting to get delirious. "Tell me you guys have seen the Tatzelwurm tap dancing too?"

"Lee's brain is cofliperflooped." Holger said as he and Cam hurried to distance themselves from her.

Lee held her head and starting to sway and her back hit the locker as she closed her eyes from the world getting dizzy and out of focus.

"Dude, just like the movie. First the coughing," Cam said as Lee coughed, "then the sneezing," he said as she let out a sneeze, "itchy butt cramps," he said as they both looked away while Lee scratched her backside through her pants, "and hallucinating thingies and then you turn into-space zombies!" he and Holger both said as Lee slid down the locker as her head was starting to get worse. "Chaz was right; this is the space zombie flu."

"There is no space zombie flu." Tina said coming over to them and crossed her arms. "And Chaz is never right."

"Oh yeah muchacha? I read all 8 books from the trilogy, okay? And everybody knows if it was in a book it has to be true." Cam replied as Tina continued walking on before standing beside Lee and Erwin showed up.

"What are they doing?" he asked as the cleaners were putting up cameras and the TV above them went off.

"Attention you walking mucus membranes." He said and Lee grimaced before she forced herself to get up off the floor.

"Uh, I'm late for detention, gotta go." She said hurrying down the hall and into the detention room and took her seat, raising a brow at the sewing machine as the other teen started it up and wondered what he was working on. "Ah…?"

"Double detention, which gives me plenty of time for sweater making." Biff replied. "Turns out Mr. Rumple, was really _Mrs. _Rumple. Now her six new kittens are gonna need name tag sweaters so I can tell 'em apart."

"Oh," Lee said as she started to have a clear moment of lucidity and knew they couldn't ignore the whole kiss thing forever, "listen, I know you said that my kiss wasn't bad, but we still need to talk about…_it_."

"What 'it' is there to talk about?" Biff questioned. "I know you like me, and I'm…_starting_ to like you. See, nothing to talk about."

"No, that's not what I meant." Lee said quietly before shaking her head and changing the subject. "Hey, listen this this, might be dangerous, but if you wanna take a chance to hear something weird." She said holding up her cell and pressed play and pressed pause after the phrase came up. "Sounds like 'switch the bag' right?"

"I don't know; it's so hard to tell since I'm so hypnotized." Biff said mockingly. "Dude I'm just kidding."

Lee stared at him dryly before pressing rewind. "Seriously, listen." She said and hit rewind again when the phrase came up. "I don't get it, how come we're both immune to this?" she questioned as she let the song play, but heard the grate on the vent come off and the Tatzelwurm appeared, snarling at them.

"Uh, dude, I don't think the Tatzelwurm is a fan of your taste in music." Biff said as Lee's eyes widened and the serpent creature dropped down onto the desk and hissed at her.

"Gah!" Lee exclaimed as she hastily tried to stop the song from playing, only to see the Tatzelwurm lash out its tail and she flinched while shutting her eyes, but upon feeling nothing, she opened her eyes and found that it only took her phone and went back into the vent. "Hey, my phone." She said indignantly and held her head for a moment and looked back up at the vent to see the Tatzelwurm looking back down at her with the Tophat, monocle and moustache on and turning away, using its tail to beckon her to follow. "Did you see that? The monocle, the moustache, he winked at me!"

"I think the flu's eating your brain man." Biff replied as Lee got onto her desk and wobbled to try and reach the vent. "Seriously dude," he said as she fell to the floor, "you're too sick to be in secret spy girl mode today."

"Don't worry, I'm-" Lee let out a sneeze. "Sneezetastic. If my mom finds out I lost the phone I begged her to buy, I'll be-" she let out another sneeze.

"Yeah okay, plus you need song, I get it." Biff said. "Just stop sneezing on my kitty sweaters." He said as Lee got back onto her desk and Biff stopped her. "Hold up." He said opening the drawer on the teacher's desk and grabbed another headset before tossing it at her. "Synched, go get 'em, Snotty." He said chuckling.

Lee rolled her eyes before grabbing into the edge of the grate and pulling herself in and crawling through the vent. "Little guy's moving fast, whoa, look out, he's coming at ya." Biff said through the headset as Lee saw the Tatzelwurm go slithering by and heard the bell ring. "Dude, lunch is over; better get to class before Barrage finds out."

"I gotta get my phone back." Lee replied as she continued on crawling. "I need that song, it's a major clue." She said and she heard a whirling noise before she stopped and yelled in surprise as she almost crawled into a fan.

"Dude, what's up?" Biff asked through the headset.

"Almost had another haircut, and my last." Lee replied. "Where's the Tatzelwurm now?"

"The next right, oh, and left." Biff said and Lee soon came upon the serpent creature at an open vent and grabbed a hold of its tail as he went down into the dark tunnel.

"Gaaah!" Lee screamed and she blacked out when she hit something solid at the end of the tunnel. When she came too, she rubbed her head and looked around at the new tunnel she was in now. "Where am I?" she questioned to herself as she stood up and pressed down on her headset. "Biffy?" she tried before looking down the high-tech hallway in confusion. "Is this real?"

The Tatzelwurm dropped down in front of her and she cringed back and shielded herself, but it was wearing that monocle and moustache again. "Looks like you've take a stumble; may I offer you a claw?"

Lee pulled her arms away from herself and her expression was disbelieving. "You…can talk?"

"Of course I can talk." The Tatzelwurm replied in a sibilant hiss. "And I can dance." He said swaying back and forth. "I can siiiiing." He added as he sang the last word. "But I _hate_ that song you were playing." He said poking her on the chest. "Come along now, and I'll show you why."

"Wait, it's the fever, I'm dreaming all this." Lee tried to rationalize as her vision started to get blurry before she started walking on after the serpent. "Right?" she asked herself and soon the creature hissed and she looked back to see the shadows of the cleaners started to run down the hall and she hid behind a pillar as they ran by.

Lee waited until they were gone to move toward the pillar in front of her and looked around it, gasping at seeing her father with a group of scientists as her vision once again started to get blurry. "Dad?" she questioned moving back against the wall and sneezed. She heard footsteps and started running back down the hall until the Tatzelwurm tackled her into a side room and the door slid down.

She stood up and when her eyes adjusted to the darkened room, she saw the Tatzelwurm get to eye level with her and she cringed back. "Ah! Please don't kill me!"

The Tatzelwurm laughed quietly at this. "I didn't bring you all the way down here to kill you." Said moving over to the computer board and pressed down on a button, the giant metal sheet rising on the reflective glass wall to show a chair and a TV screen.

"What is this?" Lee questioned as she walked over and looked through the glass wall.

"It's a _brainwashing_ room." The Tatzelwurm answered. "The teenage mind is so …_rubbery_." He said pushing another button and the TV screen came on, flashing through different things, all while being bright and the prank song playing on it.

"Whoa, the prank song? Everyone listened to it and now there all sick." Lee said and slapped her forehead. "Of course, it all adds up, the song gave everyone the flu." She said sneezing.

"No, the song puts people into a trance yes, I hate it." The Tatzelwurm said clenching his fists. "I heard you playing it from all the way down here, but the flu, it's just the flu, but it is highly contagious. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't _sneeze_ on me again." He said warningly.

"Right." Lee replied slowly before looking back into the room. "Why doesn't it affect me, or Biffy?"

"You're both unbrainwashable;" The Tatzelwurm said moving toward her, "it's like how some people can curl their tongue," he said and Lee cringed back again, "and others _can't_." he said curling his own tongue to emphasize his point.

"So what is all this for?" Lee questioned as the Tatzelwurm retrieved a folder and handed it to her. "What's this?"

"It's something you've been looking for dear girl, it's the truth." He replied and Lee watched him move past before looking back down through the file and pulled out several photos from it.

"This is me, hey," she said finding the picture of her as a baby and her parents standing in front of a house, "I don't remember being there." She gasped as the Tatzelwurm jumped on her shoulders and looked over her shoulder at her.

"It's a game dear girl, and you, you have a very big role to play in it." He said. "Don't you see, they're trying to-" he was cut off by the alarm beginning to blare and as the lights cut off, two cleaners came through the doors and the Tatzelwurm scared them long enough for Lee to escape out of the room and sprinted down the hall.

Lee heard the cleaners running after her, and when she slid around the corner, she looked back over her shoulder briefly before sneezing again and slid around another corner, pausing at a wall and put one hand on it to support herself as she tightly clenched the folder in her fist, her other hand wiping at her forehead.

Lee sneezed once again before she saw the cleaners run down the hall and kept on running, the cleaners right behind her and tripped over her feet and fell to the ground, the folder falling out of her hand and across the floor and hit her head on the tiles.

* * *

Lee woke with a start and pulled her up from her folded arms and looked around the detention room in confusion. "Wha, how did I get here?" she questioned aloud and her eyes widened. "The file." She said in realization before the door opened and Biff came in.

"I thought I lost you back in the vents, where'd you go?" he asked.

Lee felt her face heat, but was unsure if she was blushing or it was just because of the flu. "I…don't know," she admitted, "there was this room and Green Apple Splat hypnotizing, and the Tatzelwurm can talk, and-and…my dad was…there." She said as she sped through her explanation before her voice slowed down.

"Right." Biff said humoring her. "Uh, what about your phone?"

"Uh…" Lee furrowed her brow before her cell came falling from the vent landed on the floor, the prank song playing.

"'Kay, maybe you're right, maybe it does say 'switch the bag'." Biff said after a moment of thought.

"Yeah, but who switched the bag?" Lee questioned frowning. "That's what I wanna kn-" she sneezed and started coughing.

"Goodness, Lee Ping, you go straight home right this instant," The vice principal said from the door, "you're way to sick for detention today."

_'Sweet, to bad I feel so awful._' Lee thought before standing up from her seat and paused before looking up at the other teen in the room. "We…still have to talk…later." She said awkwardly.

"I thought we already 'talked'?" Biff asked rolling his eyes.

"Humor me." Lee said quietly.

"Fine." The other teen replied before Lee walked over to the door, and he seemed to gain an idea before he started to fake cough. "Cough, uh."

"Nice try Biffy T."

* * *

Lee sat on the edge of her bed and was about to eat some of her bowl of soup when her computer screen split and Holger appeared on it wearing an alien mask.

"I say 'boo' to you." He said laughing and Cam's screen appeared.

"Zombies don't say 'boo' Holger, zombies go 'uuuuh' we've been over this like a hundred times dude." Cam said with a stuffy nose.

"No worries friends; lookey, masks for everybodys." Holger said holding up two more masks. "How was detention time Lee?"

"Too weird to explain." Lee replied. "I think I just crashed and slept all day and then had this really weird dream." She said before there was knocking at her door and her dad looked in.

"Hey kiddo, I hear you got the flu." He said.

Lee thought back to the dream and _had_ to ask. "Uh, dad, were you at school today?"

Her dad laughed politely. "At school? I was at work all day. Why?"

"No reason." Lee said quickly. "Night dad."

"Good night daughter." Her dad said closing the door.

_'Wow, so I really did dream the whole thing.'_ She thought, but…for some reason this explanation didn't make her feel any better.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Good morning A. Nigma high students, I'm Tina Kwee." Tina said on the morning announcements as she waved away the hairspray Chaz had.

"And I'm Chaz Monorainian, you probably heard the buzz that this Friday is the annual founder's day play." He said said.

"Where we celebrate our first principal, the great patriot Alexander Nigma." Tina said holding up a picture of the school founder.

Lee blinked from her seat at the photo. "Dude's got a serious beard." She said to herself.

"Play tryouts are at lunch time so come one, come all." Tina said and started coughing on the hairspray.

"Yeah, rumor has it that our very own Tina Kwee _''wrote''_ this years play, I didn't believe it either," Chaz chuckled and Tina glared at him, "I mean she can barely read the news poor gal, but the real news story here is I, me, yours truly, the Chaz, will be taking the title role again, and I just had…"

Lee blocked out the announcements as she felt her phone vibrate and she looked down at who the text was from. "Radcircles at A. Nigma high?" she questioned in quiet disbelief. "No way! The guy who set me up for the prank." She said and read the message. "Knock knock? What?"

"If you want to play Alexander Nigma, you have to audition like everyone else." Tina said.

"That's funny, but I've got it in with the writer, hello, we work together," Chaz said, "how about a little professional courtesy?" he asked before being slapped. "Ow!"

"Oh Chaz," Holger laughed, "you never learn, this show is so good."

Lee gave her friend a brief side glance before texting back into her cell her reply. "Who are you, and why did you set me up?"

* * *

Lee walked down the hall and found her friend Cam doing a strange rap about the founder and heard him mention the play. "You guys are trying out for the play? I thought you said plays were lame."

"Bro, plays might be lame to the O, but everyone knows actors get all of the chickitas yo!" Cam said high-fiving Holger. "Dude, you should try out to."

"Me on stage," Lee said pointing to herself, "_again_, nah ah, not gonna happen. Plus, one small detail, _detention_, which reminds me, I got this e-mail from Radcir-"

"Does this have anything to do with some long convoluted prank mystery slash conspiracy blab blab la thingy?" Cam questioned.

"Yeah, but-" Lee tried to reply but Cam held up a hand as he walked away.

"Sorry we gotta bounce, auditions yo." He said as he and Holger walked toward the gym.

Lee felt her phone vibrate again and looked at the e-mail. "He wrote back." She said to herself. "You were supposed to say 'whose there' now you'll never know. Ah!" she said slapping her head in frustration. "A knock knock joke? What are you, five?" she snapped before texting back. "Who are you?"

Lee pursed her lips before heading off to the detention room before she got dragged there by some embarrassing means and when she arrived, she grabbed a ball from the desk and started to bounce it back and forth off the wall when she sat down. "Balls in your court Mr. Circles, or should I call him Professor Rad?" she questioned to herself as she kept the ball in her hand. "Oh, Doctor Sphere is kinda cool." She admitted before switching the ball for her cell. "Whoever you are, you definitely deserve your very own special e-mail ring tone." She said before it went off. "Oh perfect."

Lee looked at the e-mail and made a thoughtful sound. "Hmm, why don't we meet, how about play tryouts, oh right you have detention my bad?" she read as her voice grew louder and more incredulous before smirking and dialing a number. "Yeah, too bad I have a way to know exactly where you are." She said and put the phone to her ear. "Biffy, I need to know where Barrage is."

"Yeah, kinda busy right now." Biff replied irritated. "What do think, I'm on twenty-four seven Barrage duty?" he questioned. "But," he said pausing, "you're in luck, he's exiting the parking lot in three, two, now. Looks like you're free. Gotta go, the life of the theatre calls."

Lee looked down at her phone in surprise as she raised a brow, but before she could get in a word, he quickly added, "Uh, I mean I gotta go beat someone up, bye" and ended the call.

Lee sighed as she ended the call herself. "Oh, and even though you already know, I like you a lot." She said despondently to the phone and frowned before proceeding to sneak out and head toward the gym. She looked in through the doors and looked around at the students all wanting to audition for the play. '_So Radcircles is obviously not the missing principal then it must be someone here, but who?' _she thought before sneaking over to hide behind a bush card board cut out and texted in her reply. "Which part are you going for, the lead? Now let see who picks up first." She said looking over at the benches, only to see that most of the students were on their phones and she let out a frustrated sound.

"Man, strike one." She said as she heard Chaz finishing up his audition.

"Ask not what your school can do for you, but what your school can do for you." He said as he dramatically dropped to his knees.

"Oh kay, thanks, uh…next?" Vice principal Victoria questioned and Brandy walked up onto the stage while Lee saw a cleaner walking over with a box and ducked back down as he set the box down and left, Lee looking thoughtfully at the box.

Brandy coughed as she put her hands together. "Look Vinnie…"

"Huh?" Tina questioned.

"Yeah, look, I thought Alexander was kind of blah so…" Brandy trailed off as Tina interrupted her.

"That's his name." she said.

"Shh, she's got the floor." Victoria said shushing the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's see where she goes with it."

"Look Vinnie, you may have shown them whose boss with your whole bla bla bla school thingamagig…" Brandy said as she took on an accent and Lee had taken to putting on a hat, monocle, trench coat and a scarf to wrap around the lower half of her face so she could walk around in public and looked through a song to put on the e-mail. She felt ridiculous, but it was all she had to work with at the moment.

"There, the prank song." She said looking around the benches. "Open it up and let's hear where you are." She soon heard the song start playing, but the applause from the crowd drowned it out and she slapped her forehead. She heard her phone get an incoming e-mail and looked down at it. "That wasn't very nice, you almost ruined our little game, oh and watch out for…Barrage, what?" she questioned to herself and heard the door open and Barrage came in.

"Howdy dodel." He said as he walked passed Lee and she pulled the hat down to shield the rest of her face and proceeded to try and sneak away as Holger walked onto the stage.

"Hello, Holger audition for the part of…Holger!" he chuckled and pointed at himself before doing some dance moves, or what could constitute as dance moves.

"I think we just found our choreographer, don't you agree principal Barrage?" Victoria questioned.

"I don't know what we just found, but I never want to see that again," he said pointing at Holger, "who's playing A. Nigma? And where are the special effects?" he asked slamming his fists down onto the table. "Go big, or go home. You!" he exclaimed just as Lee was almost at the door and she froze. "Gonna stand around all day like a meerkat at a rodeo, or are you gonna show us what Mr. Fancyhat's got!" he said as she turned around and was handed a script.

Lee looked down at it, then at the stage, and so didn't want to go through with this. And _Mr.?_

"Impress me El Hato, as if your life depends on it," Barrage said as Lee reluctantly made her way to the stage, "cause, in a way, it does."

"Um, uh, okay," Lee said awkwardly as she pulled the scarf enough away from her face for everyone to hear her clearly but no one to be able to really _see_ her, "you can throw me in," she coughed and tried to make her voice sound more aged and boyish, "in the stockade, but vegetables will…be mine?" she questioned and saw she read the word wrong. "Um sorry, I mean vengeance," she said clenching her fist, "_vengeance_ will be mine! And all that." She said the last part dully.

"There's just something about him, he's got that 'I don't wanna be here' haunting quality." Barrage said. "You got the part El Hato. Go and do A. Nigma proud!"

Lee frowned behind the 'mask' and heard Chaz yelling and saw him fall to his knees. "I've been robbed!" he said falling forward and was pulled off the stage by a hook.

"Excuse me, don't I get a say?" Victoria asked crossing her arms.

"Stand down VP, you may be the director, but _principal_ always picks who plays principal." Barrage replied as Lee walked back stage.

She heard her cell go off and looked down at the new e-mail. "Ha ha, now you're stuck in the lead role and now I can tell Barrage where you are at any time I want?" she let out an irritated sound and flapped her forehead. "This is a nightmare!" she exclaimed before making her way back to detention.

* * *

Lee started texting Radcircles once she was in detention after school. "So RadC, how would you like to make it a fair fight and tell me what part you got?" she questioned and heard the door slam open, quickly stashing her phone under her desk.

"Miss Ping! While you waste your after school time at the founder's day play put on up there by proud students, like that Brandy girl, and that _freakishly_ small friend of yours, why, even _El Hato_. I'll be back at 15.16 and that seat better be warm!" Barrage shouted and slammed the door shut.

Lee sighed as she got out the costume she'd stashed in the vent and put it on before making her way to the gym and once she got her script, she made her way onto the stage, adjusting her monocle as Brandy came out in a black and white outfit with a black bowler hat.

"Vinnie, tell me see, what went rotten with the whole school deal?" she asked.

"You know, I'm pretty sure I don't say anything like that in the script." Lee replied, but all it got her was a punch in the stomach and she grimaced.

"I know you had the school set up see, but you needed cash, and that's where the boys from the company came in see, and…" Brandy trailed off as she looked past Lee's monocle and narrowed her eyes. "Is that _you?_" she exclaimed frowning.

"Wha? Who uh." Lee said vaguely as she tried to hide behind her script. "Me? Ahaha."

"No, _you_!" Brandy exclaimed.

"Yes, ah, yes, it's me, Alexander Nigma, and uh yeah, the school deal thingie is uh…" Lee had nothing for this, and she knew her cover about to be blown.

"Come on, I know it's you Le-"

"-Girl!" Lee blurted out and this garnered everyone's attention. "Yes, yes, so you figured out I'm actually a girl, good for you."

"A girl! I was beat out by a girl!" Chaz shouted dramatically from somewhere off stage.

"Private, what in the Sam Heck was going through your mind when you thought you could be A. Nigma?" Barrage yelled.

Lee grimaced behind her scarf as she thought fast. "He's a…interesting historical figure, and it's not like there's any rule that I _couldn't_ try out for the part." She said more heatedly, faking the indignation that felt somewhat real to her.

The vice principal looked to be on her side, and that was enough. "She's right, there was no rule to say that a woman couldn't try out for the role; the wedding scene at the end will just have to be altered."

Lee let out a strangled noise at the mention of a wedding scene. "Good, because I don't want to have to kiss _that_." She said jerking her head in Brandy's direction, who crossed her arms and scowled at her.

When the rehearsal was over, Lee went to see Brandy in the back and looked at anywhere but her. "So, you never have time to hang out with me, you _BFF_, but you can sneak out to be in the school play?"

"I don't even wanna be doing this! All that stuff I said on stage was because you were about to blow my cover and I only got cast by _accident_." Lee retorted and looked at the other girl finally.

"Well don't worry; the play's now about the adventures of Carmen Bresante, A. Nigma's totally awesome bodyguard." Brandy replied. "You'll have like maybe two lines tops. Oh and there's that photo that showed up at my party we still need to discuss."

Lee frowned. "What's there to discuss about it? Someone took it to embarrass me, that's all."

"No, that is _not_ all." Brandy replied. "People have been starting to talk about whether or not you two are together, and I have only one thing to say to that…" she paused for dramatic effect. "Why him? Seriously, why him? You could date any guy you want."

Lee furrowed her brow as she thought about her answer, but didn't get a word in as Tina's voice rang out.

"This ends now!" she yelled as she rushed into the doorway. "A. Nigma never had a bodyguard; he had a wife name Anastasia who helped him found this school. Stick to the script!" she exclaimed holding the script up. "And hello, I know it's you." She added looking at Lee. "Aren't you supposed to be in detention?"

"Man, I thought this disguise was foolproof; no one could really see my face." Lee said frowning. "And, about the script, since I 'outted' myself as a girl, there probably is going to be a big change to my…character."

Tina let out a sigh of frustration. "Yes, thank you for that." She said sarcastically.

"Yes, thank you, now I can call your character some not boring name, like Alexa, or Alexis, or…even Lex." Brandy chuckled. "This leaves a lot of options." She said before grabbing the script. "And let's change this whole part to a shootout slash dance sequence where I out boogie the bad guys and let's make them ninjas."

"Out boogie, dance guy, ninjas, Barrage and Victoria won't allow all these changes," Tina said crossing her arms, "this school's history has integrity."

"You and I both know that Barrage will let me do whatever I want, as long as I create more opportunities for fire, explosions, and special effects. And Victoria just likes sticking it to the man."

Lee heard her phone vibrate and looked down at her cell. "Lose track of the time? Aw man!" she hissed and hurried back to the detention room, losing her costume as she tossed it back into the vent and took her seat, just as the door slammed open and Barrage saluted before detention was let out.

* * *

When she was about to leave to go back to her room after she was let out to eat dinner at home, Lee paused and cleared her throat to get her parent's attention. "Say, hypothetically, if I liked a boy and…he liked me back, would I be able to go out with him?"

Her parents looked at each other. "No." They both said at the same time.

"Wha…then what age could I date him at, hypothetically?" Lee questioned, as they had never actually given her restrictions on if she could _be_ with him. And there was no restriction about her being able to meet with him on school 'dates' as they pretty much spent an hour or so together after school…well, _most_ of the time.

And while she knew it was probably just a crush, it also_ could not_ be just a crush.

"You are not allowed to date until you are twenty one." Her mother said and if Lee didn't know her mom, she would have assumed she was kidding.

"I…I see." Lee murmured and way her way back upstairs.

Well this sucked, not only did she need to have a real conversation with Biff, even if he said he _did_ like her…in that way, then they couldn't even date. Lee paused for a moment as she thought of a solution. Well, then they just wouldn't _call_ it a date then. Her thoughts were all jumbled and she felt she needed to tell him soon.

Her thoughts went back to what Brandy said earlier about why it was Biff she liked. Lee still couldn't come up with anything as to _why_, but all she knew was that she liked him. Logically speaking there must _be_ something about him that attracted her, as she'd honestly never felt this way about a guy before.

And yet 'all she knew' just wasn't good enough of an explanation.

* * *

The next day in detention her thoughts were still stuck on her personal life dilemma when Barrage slammed the door open. "Enjoy today's lunch seat warmer, I got a date with some hot explosives!" he said before shutting the door.

Lee heard her phone ring and she put it to her ear. "Hey man, you're missing rehearsal!" Cam said through the phone.

"I can't go, Radcircles is on to me, he keeps threatening to tell Barrage." Lee replied.

"But dude-!" Cam said and a ring told Lee that there was another caller.

"Hold on." She said before taking the next call.

"Ah, you better get your butt down here; I didn't sew a million ninja outfits just so you could not show up." Biff said.

"But Radcircles knows I'm-" Lee heard another beep and took the next call. "Hello?"

"Listen Ping, I don't want to play the whole Barrage card _again_, so you had better-!" Brandy's threat was cut off by Lee taking yet another call.

"First you _BFF_ trashes my play, now you won't even show up!" Tina yelled and Lee had to once again take another call due to the beeping.

"Where is Lee? Help me find my clogs jah?" Holger questioned.

Lee raised a brow before answering each of them. "Okay, okay, _okay_, I'm coming!" she said before hitting the end button and got dressed into the costume after retrieving it from the vent.

* * *

Lee made her way onto the backstage heard Chaz from behind.

"Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy, seriously, time for you to get off the stage and let me take back what is rightfully mine!" he exclaimed. "I was born to do this." He said before noticing that Biff was behind him and he shouted in surprise before running off.

"Heh; thanks." Lee said flushing and figured that now was a good a time as any to tell him what she felt. "Look, I've been wanting to say this for a while now, and I really like you." She said sincerely.

"Oh, I know you like me." Biff replied nonchalantly. "I thought we already went through this."

"No, I want to hear _you_ say it." Lee said quietly as she flushed behind the scarf. She got no answer and desperately needed to change the subject. "Hey, do you think Chaz could be Radcircles? And he's playing with me cause I took his part?"

"He does seem to hate you." Biff replied as he avoided looking at Lee directly. "Send whoever it is a sound file; it'll smoke 'em out."

"Tried, failed." Lee deadpanned. "They'll never fall for it again."

"But they might fall for this, check it out." Biff said and e-mailed her something and Lee looked down at her phone as she tried to stop the sound. "It's a virus; you just send it to Radcircles and presto."

"Cool, I'll send it right now." Lee said and was about to e-mail it when Biff grabbed her hand.

"Don't be a doofus and waste it; what if they're not even here at the moment?" he asked and they both paused for a second and pulled their hands away. "You only have one chance, so wait until you're on stage; that way you can see _everyone_."

Lee heard her phone go off and looked down at it. "You thought I was Chaz, now I'm insulted." She said and looked around. "Wha, how did he know about Chaz?" she asked and her phone went off again. "Oh and you might wanna check the time." She read and saw Barrage heading for the door. "Barrage's gonna beat me, I'm toast!"

"Hit the vents, way faster." Biff said and Lee headed up the ladder to the rafters and dialed Cam's number.

"Go." He said from the other end.

"Barrage is at the door, I need you to run interference," Lee said pulling down the grate, "now." she said hanging up as she pulled herself into the vent. She dropped into her seat once she was over the detention room and tossed her costume to the next seat over as the door slammed open.

"Dismissed!" he said before closing the door and Lee slumped in her seat before her phone went off.

"So the big day, you probably have something up your sleeve well go ahead and bring it." She read and raised a brow. "Okay Radcircles, time to find out who you are."

* * *

When the play was starting up, Lee was adjusting her scarf as Cam let out an 'ow!' when Biff was stitching the Tatzelwurm costume head.

"Hold still!" he said before looking down at Lee. "Wait until the sunrise effect in the finale, then send the virus."

"Got it." Lee replied. "Don't forget to watch my back backstage."

"Dancers, you're on!" Lynch yelled and Lee got ready for her own upcoming scene, hoping people weren't_ too_ shocked at seeing a girl play the founder. If they _realized_ she was a girl, as she refused to actually change her costume to something more feminine.

She walked out onto the stage at her own cue and Cam running out onto the stage as well as he flatly started hissing. "I've never seen anything like it." She said. "Will it hurt me?"

"Don't worry Lexi; Carmen Bresante's got your back." Brandy said and grabbed a hold of Lee before tossing her out to the side stage. "You go do some stuff."

Lee hit the floor and groaned and when she got back to her feet, she heard her phone go off again and looked down at it. "You're acting is so weak. Great, an evil mastermind and a critic." She said sarcastically as she saw Tina walk over to her.

"People are liking this." She said referring to the cheers. "I hate to say it, but though I can't stand her, she'd actually kinda good. Never repeat that. Ever."

"What are you doing talking to her?" Brandy questioned coming out onto the stage and wearing a white costume. "You need to get into costume for the fight scene; no way am I letting you out with this on. Come on." She said dragging her over to the costume rack and shoved an outfit into Lee's hands.

"But I already said I wasn't going to wear something girly." She protested.

"Yeah, well, you can just stand there and look pretty then." Brandy retorted and shoved her into the closet. "Now hurry up!"

Lee sighed deeply as she changed out of her trench coat, and into the blue glittery dress that hit the floor, and had a slit up to the knee on one side. She left her pants on to make herself feel more comfortable in it and pressed down on the fabric as she put her scarf back on, left the monocle alone, and kept the hat.

Lee felt oddly elegant in this and made her way out of the closet. She saw many people pause as they saw her, but Brandy just grabbed her arm and pulled her out onto the stage. She felt herself blushing when there were whistles from the audience and they stood together on the stage.

"Okay Lexi, don't look now but there are those who want to assassinate us, so get ready to ready to kick some butt!" Brandy said taking a stance and as she started to 'fight' the 'ninjas' Lee saw the sunrise started to come up and Biff gave her the signal.

Lee took out her cell and sent the virus and saw Erwin pick up his phone first. "Erwin, I knew it." She said before the rest of the student body's phones started going off. "Ed too? Huh? How'd it spread so fast?" she questioned and Brandy glared over at her.

"Did you just do that?" she questioned. "In the middle of my big scene? Is this another prank?"

"I'm sorry Carmen, the uh," Lee said awkwardly, "what's the line? Oh yeah, the war! It…needs me." She finished lamely.

"Don't Carmen me Miss Lying, Selfish, Jerk!" Brandy yelled. "All you do is lie, lie, lie!" Brandy said pushing Lee, making the scarf fall from her lower face and the monocle go flying from her face.

The crowd gasped and Lee did as well once she noticed that her face could now be seen clearly. Cam came running out and jumped on her, sending her into the floor.

"Your cover's blown, run!" Biff said before grabbing a hold of Lee's shoulder and pulled her off the floor and she went running back to the detention room, putting her shirt on over the dress top and held up the helm of the dress as she ran down the hall, pulling the dress skirt up off the floor as she got back to the detention room so it wouldn't be seen on the floor.

The door slammed open a moment later. "You missed the greatest moment in the school's history since the day was founded, and it was all thanks to my special effects. Boom, boom, boom! Dismissed." Barrage said. "Oh, and nice hat." He said closing the door.

Lee took the hat off her head let out a sigh of relief. She looked down at the skirt as she let it fall to the floor and wondered how she could make it to the bathroom and change out of the dress.

* * *

"Holger wish every time could be musical dance time." Holger said as Lee looked at her computer of him and Cam's screens.

"Man, wherever I go, the ladies love this costume bro." Cam said wearing the Tatzelwurm suit. "And you looked pretty classy in that dress yo."

Lee let out a chuckle before her mother opened the door to her room. "Lights out." She said turning off the lights and shut the door.

"Guys, I gotta go, see ya tomorrow." She said turning off her computer and heard her phone go off. "Thanks, that was a fun game of cat and mouse, let's play again soon?" she scowled as she texted the user back. "For the last time, _who are you?_" she asked and paused for a reply. "Nothing. What does Radcircles have against me anyway," she asked herself as she leaned on her desk, "and how will I ever know who it is?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lee held onto the passenger seat as her mother was driving her to school and yelling at the stop light as it turned green and the other cars cut her off.

"Lousy traffic!" she shouted and the SUV lurched to the side and Lee hit her head on the window.

"Ow." She said rubbed the side of her head and heard her phone ring and reached into her bag to take it out and pressed a button that brought up a set of numbers. "A calendar reminder?" she asked herself as she raised a brow. "I never put these numbers here."

"Lee Ping, no texting while driving," her mother said, "you know that isn't safe." She added before the car made another lurch and Lee cringed as the cell fell from her hands. "See?" her mother said and Lee pouted.

The redheaded girl reached down for her phone and opened the door when her mother stopped in front of the school and she got out before rushing up to meet her friends. "Hey guys, check it out, it's some kind of weird number sequence." She said as she and Cam opened the doors to the school. "Do you think Radcircles e-mailed it to me?"

"You can't e-mail numbers into a calendar." Cam replied as he swiped the cell out of Lee's hands. "You gotta type that stuff in by hand bro. Or in your case, by some weird prank person's probably, totally _creepy_ hand." He chuckled and Lee glared at him. Cam reached out and took Holger's drink before taking a sip and grimaced as he held his head with one hand. "Ah, brain freeze." He said looking at the cup. "Is that like…bacon?"

"Jah, of course, bacon, eggs, and sausage breakfast smoothie, yummy, no?" Holger questioned.

"No." Both Lee and Cam said as Cam held the cup out, only to get it snatched out of his hand by a claw and the Tatzelwurm went slithering away across the top of the lockers.

"Ah, Holger's drink go bye." Holger said in disappointment. "Bye!"

Lee frowned as she put a hand to her chin and narrowed her eyes in thought. "Wait, I always keep my phone on me, except for the time I had that crazy fever and the Tatzelwurm stole it from me." She said thinking back to how the serpent creature took the phone when she was in detention.

"It left you its phone number?" Cam asked in disbelief before his tone changed. "Aw, that's so sweet dude, so what do Tatzelwurms like do on the first date? See a movie, munch on furry rodents?" he joked.

Lee rolled her eyes before swiping her phone back. "Seriously, what do these numbers mean? Is it code?"

"You're the match whiz bro." Cam replied.

"Maybe ask Matheletes?" Holger suggested as the group of aforementioned Matheletes came in front of the exit door. "They whiz too." He said as Grete waved at Holger and he nervously waved back.

"Great idea Holg'." Lee replied. "Matheletes never turn down a question about numbers; it's one of their rules."

Holger clapped his hands together and brought Lee forward by the collar of her shirt and also off the floor. "So Holger go ask question now?" he asked letting go of Lee and she fell onto her backside. "For I spy the Greta times."

"Holger doesn't _actually_ have a thing for Greta does he?" Lee whispered to Cam.

"Bro, dude's got a thing for zombie masks, unicorns and egg, bacon and sausage smoothies," Cam pointed out, "need I say more?"

"Good point." Lee deadpanned and quickly jotted down the numbers on a piece of paper from her bag with a pen and handed it to Holger. "Here, you can go ask now." she said and Holger walked off to where the Matheletes went.

"Later Chica." Cam said and Lee gave the same goodbye as she waited for Holger to come out of the library.

When he did though, she blinked as she took the paper back. "A PH calibration number?"

"And the way she slurs her Ps is pretty, like cockroach that sings." Holger replied putting his hands together.

Lee stared at him. "I'll take your word on that." She replied quickly as she looked down at the paper. "But that's not what these numbers are." She heard the lockers being banged and Holger began banging his head on the lockers.

"Greta's great brain has failed us!" he yelled.

Lee blinked before looking down at the paper. "What could these numbers mean?" she questioned to herself as the Tatzelwurm opened up the vent and hissed, making Holger back away. "Chill, Holger, you're disturbing the wildlife." She said as the serpent crawled down onto the locker and pointed at the locker number before it slithered away as the cleaners came running down the hall after it.

Lee stared after them before her phone started to ring and she took it out of her pocket. "Okay, I don't need a reminder every two minutes." She said irritated and raised a brow when she saw the numbers again. "Wait, 1287," she said before looking at the numbers stamped onto Holger's forehead, "1785. What if the first four numbers are a locker number?" she asked herself before lightly punching Holger in the shoulder. "Thanks Holger." She said before sprinting down the hall and found the numbers getting closer and closer. "1278, 79-" she looked down into the hall that was darker than the rest of the school and her eyes widened.

"Oh man, the forbidden hall." She said gulping. "Common sense says I should stay out, but…" she trailed off before walking down the hall and kept looking at the numbers. "1282, 1283, 1284..." she trailed off as she found the only not bent in locker and looked down at the numbers. "Maybe the other numbers are the lock combo?" she questioned herself as she leaned in closer to see the lock better. "24, weird, this is like the only locker around that hasn't been destroyed." She said to herself before a giant fist punched the door just above her head and she gasped, looking back at three 15th graders.

"Well, well, Lee _Fling_ looks lost." The bald one said.

Lee frowned as she stood up straight. "It's Lee P-" she was cut off by being grabbed by the front of her shirt and was tossed into the locker on the other side of the hall and she fell to the floor.

"Fling, like he said." The one with the bandana said chuckling as the one with the hat wiped his hands.

"This is _our_ hallway." The bald one said and Lee cringed back.

"Right." Lee said before standing back up. "So I'll just be-" she was cut off again as one of them punched locker right by her head.

"Anyone who cuts through _our_ hallway gets a date with us on the football field after school." The bald one said threateningly.

Lee waved it off as she tried to play it light. "Heh, guys, I already _have_ a boy I'm interested in."

The one with the hat chuckled before the bald one looked at him. "Shut up!" he shouted before looking back at Lee. "'Kay Miss Funny Girl, we'll show _you_ who's funny."

"This clown hat!" The one with the bandana laughed as he put the bright blue and bell ornamented hat on Lee's head before the bald on grabbed her by the shoulder.

"And what's gonna happen to _you_ at 3:15! Football field, be there!" he shouted. "Fine us, or we'll find you."

Lee decided it was time to go and she sprinted away as the one with the hat punched the spot her head had previously been in and once she was out of the hall, she rested her back against the row of lockers and caught her breath. "Oh well," she said nonchalantly before taking the clown at off and tossed it to the floor and smirked, "too bad I have detention and can't make the _date_."

* * *

The bell rang and Lee came out of the classroom before students started running down the hall yelling at people to move out of their way. Lee raised a brow before she looked back and a water balloon hit her in the chest and the resulting water got her front wet and she dropped her books in surprise and her hair flattened down against her head.

The redheaded girl saw the 15th graders tossing water balloons from a catapult and the other students taking cover and Lee hid behind the locker row as Cam came over to her with a book covering his head.

"Bro, you went to the machine shop wing? Nobody uses that hallway, _ever_." He said. "You mess their turf Chica, they mess with the school!" he said flaring his arms out and got nailed in the face by a balloon and fell to the ground.

Lee pushed her hair away from her face and saw Chaz walking down the hall with a hat over his hair and a vest on and put a recorder in front of her face. "Lee Ping, the Chaz, word in the hallway is that your swaréying with the 15th graders after school. Um, question: death-wish much?"

Tina came onto the scene and pushed Chaz out of the way. "Out of the way Chaz. Lee, seriously, for the record, what are you thinking? The _15th_ graders?" she asked as Chaz got up and ran away to avoid getting hit by a balloon.

Lee looked up at the TV screen in the hall and raised a brow slightly at seeing Chaz on it. "Wow that guy's fast."

"Uh, this just in, at 3:15, it's been years since someone was stupid enough to mess with the 15th graders, but that didn't stop prankster Ping." He said. "I'll be broadcasting live, so be sure to tune in for 'Ping Gets Dinged.' Like that, I just made it up right now."

Tina gasped and Lee waved it off. "Don't worry, I have detention after school, I'm immune. Watch this." She said walking down the hall over to the 15th graders and crossed her arms. "Come on guys, put the water balloons away. What are you, like 5?" she questioned and heard the whole hall gasp but ignored it as she pointed at herself. "This is between me and you guys, so why don't you be cool for a change and leave everyone else out of it?"

The bald one seemed to be glaring at her as the three of them reared their arms back with balloon in them. "Nail her!" he shouted they threw the balloons and Lee ducked as Biff caught one of the balloons and another hit a boy just as the vice principal arrived.

"Biffy T. Goldstein, _honestly_. Double detention." She said and saw Lee trying to sneak away. "And Lee Ping, you'll be pleased to know that you don't have detention today at all."

Lee tried not to panic. "Uh, why not?"

"Charter of student rights." Victoria replied. "There's a clause stating that year-long detentionaires gets one amnesty day off, and today is that day." She said as the tell-tale metal footsteps rang in Lee's ears.

"A free pass? For her?" Barrage said pointing at Lee. "No way."

"It says so right here." Victoria replied showing him the charter and he looked it over.

"This isn't over Ping." Barrage said before he and Victoria walked away and the bald 15th grader walked in front of her.

"Looks like your little escape plan didn't quite work out." He chuckled and Lee cringed. "See you at 3:15, Lee _Fling." _he said before he and the other two walked away and Biff came up beside her.

"Man, even I don't mess with those guys." He said and looked down at her. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

Lee gulped before pushing her fear back for a moment. "Is that…_worry_ I detect in your voice?" she asked somewhat shakily.

"Like I said before," Biff said as he let his hand rest on Lee's shoulder for a moment, "I'm _starting_ to like you, and how can I _keep_ liking you if something happens to you?"

"Thanks." Lee said softly as she tried to think of a plan.

* * *

Lee made a face down on the glop that was put onto her tray. "My only free day and of course it's…" she trailed off and looked at the lunch attendant. "What is this?"

"Eat it." She replied and Lee backed away as Brandy came up behind her.

"Lee, your sacrifice makes me want to cry." She said giving her a brief hug and Lee looked at her in confusion. "If you beat them, I'll be the winner's BFF; if you lose _I'll_ be losing my BFF and getting more popular!" she said cheerfully and Lee failed to see how _she_ benefitted from this.

"A. Nigma, don't forget, when class is done, tune in for the fun," Chaz said from the TV screen, "I'll give you live-streaming video from today's after school special; 'Ping Gets Dinged.'" He said and there was cheers through the cafeteria as Lee looked up at the clock and went to sit down at the table her friends were at.

"Man, the school is going totally loco over this." Cam said.

"I need to be in detention today." Lee said and put her chin on her palm as she put her elbow on the table. "Aw the not-so delicious lunch."

"So, make with new prank to get _new_ detention." Holger said.

Lee smiled at this as she sat up straight. "Yeah, great idea Holger." She said putting some of the food onto her spoon. "Time to mash this party up." She said letting it fly.

"Food fight!" Cam yelled and started throwing the gunk and soon everyone was throwing it.

"Stop that this instant." Everyone froze as Victoria stood in the doorway and the cleaners started to clean up the goop. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with your food, Giuseppe Stern?" she questioned as the emo wiped the gunk off his face.

"But it totally wasn't me." He replied.

"And lying too." Victoria said.

Lee got out of her seat and jogged over to them. "He's telling the truth, it was me." She said pointing at herself.

"Isn't that sweet, covering for your friend." Victoria said.

Lee faltered at this. "What?"

"Maybe detention will give you time to realize why we don't start food fights." Victoria said sternly as the boy glared at Lee and she slumped her shoulders and walked back to her seat.

"So now getting detention is hard?" she questioned.

"No one said life was easy Chica." Cam replied. "You just gotta try harder at being bad."

Lee thought this over before a slow sardonic smirk made its way across her face and her eyes narrowed.

"Whoa!" Cam exclaimed and Lee rolled her eyes. "That look should be like, illegal or something."

"It's just a look." She replied before getting out of her seat.

* * *

Lee heard Holger singing her 'spy theme' in her headset as she grinned at the copying machine in the darkened room to take a picture of herself, while her most vacant-eyed and vapid expression was on her face and made dozens of copies of the photo. She grabbed them and ran down the hall to the janitor's room, taking a look inside to see the man taking a nap.

Lee crept forward to grab the keys and went over to the trophy case and unlocked it, while putting her picture in all the frames and relocked it before standing back and crossing her arms. "Okay, thanks Holger, we're good." She said into the earpiece.

"Okay." Holger replied and stopped singing.

Lee looked up at the camera and started waving her arms in front of it as Ed and Erwin happened to walk by and they were taken away by the cleaners. "What, oh come on." She muttered.

* * *

Lee sat in class with her friends on both sides of her and she frowned. "How could Barrage  
not know I was the one who did the prank?"

"On the plus side, this whole event is making you mucho popular." Cam replied. "On the not so plus side, uh, the whole they're gonna kill you thing."

"Too bad Lee's spooky large man foes not get detention too." Holger said and Lee smirked.

"Dude, when you're hot you're hot." She said and paused when Holger flexed his bicep. "Thinking wise; not looks wise." She said and Holger slumped. "If I can't get detention, I'll get the 15th graders detention."

* * *

Lee and Holger snuck into the metal shop doorway and when Lee made a hand signal, Holger made some strange signals of his own. She deadpanned and snapped her fingers instead. Holger snuck forward toward the window and Lee began dropping the feed along the room floor and Holger made a bird noise before the two of them ran out of the room and they watched the destruction.

They both laughed and Lee moved away before her eyes wandered to the locker. "Whoa, the locker." she said grabbing the handle before pulling back. "Oh right, I was gonna try the last part of the numbers as the locker combination." She said taking her cell out of her pocket and looked it over.

"Holger hum safe cracking song." Holger said humming the 'song' as Lee went back to the locker.

"24, 12, 19." She said and grabbed the handle before Holger grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, now Holger hum…suspense song." He said.

Lee raised a brow before opening the door. "My original bag!" she said in surprise. "The one that got switched before the prank." She said looking up at the vent to see the Tatzelwurm hissing at her from it. "Weird, is it trying to tell me something?" she questioned and they hid when the cleaners came and checked for the serpent and they only came out when they were gone.

They both went back over to the locker, only to freeze as the 15th graders came out covered in…well, Lee didn't want to _think_ about what they were covered in.

"Huh, look who's in our hallway, again!"

"Lee Fling, prank master, oh, I'll bet you did this." The bald one said flicking the…gunk at Lee's hair and she wiped it off onto the floor.

"I'm not afraid of you." She said and the bald one snapped his finger before the one in the hat punched the locker in. "Oh yeah, I'm afraid of him." she said and held up one hand as they approached. "Wait; if I'm dead, I want my last request." She said and they stopped. "So the prank on day one, spit it out, who put you up to switching my bag?"

"No one puts the 15th graders up to anything." The bald one said. "We put _them_ up to it."

"Yeah, _we_." The one in the bandana parroted.

"Wait, you did or you didn't?" Lee questioned. "Seriously, you did the prank? You're Radcircles?"

"Yeah, and now we prank you." The bald one said snapping his finger and the tallest one punched the locker, only to get his hand stuck.

Lee saw an opening for an escape. "Yeah, well, while you taking care of that." She said backing away, and pulled Holger with her. "Holger, come on."

"3:15 Ping."

* * *

Lee felt Holger rubbing her shoulders and she sighed in despair. "Maybe Holger tell Barrage that 15th graders switch Lee's bag," he said before grabbing the sides of her face and pulling her head up, "so face not get kafluffershuffen?" he asked before crossing his arms.

"He'd never believe you." Lee replied. "We need proof."

"Who is this 'proof' you speak of?" Holger questioned.

"Hold on, if I can get Chopper to admit on tape that he did the whole prank, this might all be worth it." Lee said and looked at Holger. "Holg' I need your help."

* * *

After school, Lee walked onto the field with her back straight and tried not to look at the crowd of people in the bleachers and saw Tina running over to her.

"Lee, don't do this, it's crazy." She said.

"I know it, Tina." Lee deadpanned. "But I don't have a choice, if I run; they'll just come after me the next day, or the day after that." She said patting her friend on the shoulder and continued walking forward, stopping when the one in the hat began punching the lockers and pressed her headset. "Holger, can you hear me?"

"Jah." Holger replied.

"A confession is what we're aiming for, so don't stop recording for any reason." Lee said before she noticed the altercation at the bleachers and sighed. "I guess my phone will have to do." She said and paused. "If it survives this." She said pressing record.

"Bet you wish you never walked down our hallway _now_." Chopper said.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Lee questioned as she held her phone close to her ear and walked forward. "So why'd you pull the prank?" she asked stopping three feet from them.

"Enough with the questions!" Chopper retorted.

"I just want to know why you did it, and why blame me for it?" Lee questioned.

"Uh, 'cause it was funny." The one in the bandana said trying to take a swipe at her and she moved out of the way as he fell flat onto the ground, and avoid Chopper taking a hit at her, and then the one in the hat before moving behind the row of lockers.

"Funny?" she repeated and narrowed her eyes. "You ruined my life." She let out a yell as the locker she was behind was punched in and she moved away from the locker to the end of the room, stopping short of the running into the one with the bandana.

"Can you just stand still?" he asked before Lee ducked and the one with the hat punched him in the face and Lee started to run across the field as the crowd started cheering and she looked at the bleachers briefly and she crashed into Chopper before he grabbed her by the front of the shirt.

"Just tell me, which one of you is Radcircles?" Lee asked.

"Who? Oh that, yeah we're all Brad Gurgles." Chopper said as the other two 15th graders walked over. "Him, me and him."

"Brad Gurgles?" Lee repeated and frowned. "You guys don't have a _clue_ what I'm talking about, do you? You're not Radcircles and you never did the prank." She said and just as Chopper reeled his fist back, she heard her mother's voice yell.

"Lee Ping!" Lee felt her mother grab her ear and started dragging her away. "Just because you don't have detention today doesn't mean you can roughhouse with your friends. You are a _lady_, and it's time you started acting like one." She said and put Lee into the car. "I forgot my purse, if you are not in this car when I come back, you'll be grounded 'til…forever!" she said moving away, only to suddenly come back and hand her the key through the open window. "Here, you can listen to the radio if you want, but don't change the station!" she shouted and Lee cringed.

Lee heard her phone ring and she pressed the call button before Cam's voice came over it. "Amiga, Chopper wasn't kidding, he's going to rearrange everyone's favorite Euro dude's face."

"Holger!" Lee exclaimed as her eyes widened. "Oh no he isn't." she said ending the call and, but she heard it ring again.

"Ping, still alive?" Biff asked and heard booing on the other line.

"Who's that with you?" Lee questioned and tried to make it sound innocent enough.

"The new detentionaires have all formed a Down With Lee Club." Biff replied.

"You included?" Lee asked frowning.

"Ah, hates for losers." Biff replied. "_You_, I tolerate."

"I'm touched, but is that _all_ you feel towards me?" Lee questioned and knew her question wasn't all that subtle before going back to her original request. "Look, Biffy, my mom's coming back into the school; can you hold her up as long as you can?"

"Seeing as how it's your last request, sure."

Lee would have felt her brow tic about how he said he didn't want anything to happen to her earlier if she didn't hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Thanks." She said watching the cleaners run by and ended the call before getting out of the SUV and going back onto the field to see Holger being held upside down. "Let him go!" she yelled walking over to them. "His luscious locks have nothing to do with this." She said.

Lee stood in a face off and scowled at them until she saw the cleaners restraining the Tatzelwurm and looked back.

"Now, where were we?" Chopper questioned cracking his knuckles and as they approached, she started backing away.

"So, how many wedgies, purple nurbles, swirlies, de-pantsings and hurts-donuts does it take until you finally graduate?" Lee hissed as she stopped backing up and glared at them. "A hundred? A thousand?" she said as Tina rallied the crowd and they all stood behind her. "You guys are pathetic, isn't there anything you've ever wanted to do with your lives other than pick on people?"

"Uh, no." Chopper retorted.

"I wanted to go to clown school!" The one with the bandana said putting on a bright blue clown cap.

"Aw shut up, I told you there's no such thing!" Chopper said throwing the hat to the ground. "We do, _now._ We'll take on all of you all!" he exclaimed as the Tatzelwurm pushed the cleaners away and broke the restraints.

"Run!" Cam yelled as the serpent came running toward them.

"Too bad," Chopper said as Lee started backing up as the other students had ran away, "looks like your are wimps too, not like us. Nothing scares us!"

"Eh Chopper, seriously Chopper." The one in the bandana said.

"What?" Chopper yelled and the other 15th grader pointed at the Tatzelwurm slithering along the grass. "Mommy!" he yelled as the three of them yelled the other way and Lee cringed as the Tatzelwurm stopped to look back at her, with what appeared to be a smirk coming over its face before slithering back after the 15th graders.

"Well, that worked out for you." Tina said and Lee put her hands on her sides.

"Huh, I'll say." She replied.

"I can't believe your mom dragged you off like that." Tina replied.

"Yeah, she can be kinda-" Lee stopped and her eyes widened. "My mom! The car, I gotta split!" she said and reached the car just as her mother did, while breathing heavily in her seat.

"If it was hot in here, you could have cracked a window." Her mother said and Lee evened out her breathing.

* * *

"You went up against the toughest ombre ever man and you survived!" Cam said from the split screen on Lee's computer. "Cool."

"And, Lee gets backpack of mystery." Holger said.

"Lights out." Her mother said opening the door and turned off the door before closing it.

"Later dudes." Lee said turning off her computer. "So I got my bag back, but who left it for me, the Tatzelwurm, and why now?" she questioned to herself as she sat on the edge of her bed. "And why does everything have to be so confusing?" she said lying back on the bed. "Just once, I'd like to go to bed knowing…something."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lee drank the pop from her purple soda can at the bus stop and let out a sigh of satisfaction before tossing the empty can at the garbage can and raised her arms in triumph when it fell in. "Yeah!" she cheered as the bus stopped and got onto the bus before finding her friends.

"No, Holger won't do it, he _won't_, poor little flippity floppity, hoppities." Holger said as Lee came over and held onto the pole.

"What's the freak out Holg?" she questioned.

"Bro's tripping because we're dissecting frogs today," Cam said rubbing his hands together, "personally, I can't wait, you know what I'm saying?"

Lee made a face. "Gross, I'm with Holger, it's kinda mean."

"Essay, is there like something…uh, different about you?" Cam asked and Lee rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, have you been using the fancy lotion to make that frowny face go by bye?" Holger questioned.

"I don't frown." Lee said before pausing. "Do I? Anyway, have you noticed how I look for example?"

Lee was wearing black pants, a dark flared skirt over it, and a green and tan camouflage tank top. Her hair was flattened down and the layers in her hair became more pronounced. Her mother had inspected her clothing and believed making her dress more femininely would get her to stop 'rough housing.' She felt a little weird by the awed look Cam was giving her. She didn't look _that_ ambiguous before, did she?

"Maybe the only difference other than the clothes is that I got my old bag back." Lee added. "The one that got switched during the prank." She said showing them the bag, only for Cam to get knocked off his seat.

"Ow, dude, what do you got in there?" Cam asked rubbing his head.

Lee raised a brow before reaching along the top part of her bag and felt something solid under her fingers. "Whoa, what is in here?"

"So exciting," Holger said clapping his hands together, "Holger love surprises, open, open!"

Lee proceeded to do just that, but she was having trouble with getting the top half open all the way to school. "Man, this is really sewn in tight." She said from beside her friend's locker.

"Homes, the surprise is getting like anticlimactic now." Cam said throwing his arms up and pulled the top half back as well, the fabric ripping and a gold ornament fell out onto the floor and Lee picked it up. "Uh huh, it's not something edible, like food."

"What is this?" Lee questioned furrowing her brow.

"Run for your life!" A voice that belonged to Greta yelled as she ran down the hall.

"Yo dude, it's that girl you like for whatever reason." Cam said elbowing Holger as Greta ran past them.

"Run, run they're coming!" she yelled again and the other students started screaming as well.

Lee got the ornament to open, but she narrowed her eyes further. "What is it?" she whispered and paused before looking up. "Wait, what was Greta running from?" she asked looking in the direction the Mathelete had come from as more students ran down the hall and frogs appeared.

"This is the Frogageddon saying in my village is coming," Holger said shrinking, "first the frogs, then the air turns to delicious syrup, then shoes become two sizes two small. Ah!" he yelled as a frog landed on him and he went down.

Lee felt her arm get grabbed as Tina pulled her in front of the camera. "I'm here with Lee Ping, Lee, you dabbled in the frogs with your first epic prank, are you just running out of ideas at this point?"

"Whoa, wait, I did n-" Lee tried to protest before Brandy came up and took the mic from Tina.

"Brandy Silver here, hi. I know what's going on, the frogs got so afraid of you trying to kiss them and turn them into princes that they're escaping." She said before smirking and handed the mic back, looking over Lee's outfit. "Well you certainly look like a girl now; we just need to work on getting you some standards."

Lee rolled her eyes. She had standards, but what was the use of arguing about something she had experience in? Because of the fact her parents had kept her as in the dark about boys as they could, this was all new to her. Lee looked around at the chaos and before long the overhead speaker came on.

"10th graders report to the parking lot for a field trip to…the Green Apple Splat factory. Good enough." Barrage's voice said. "Move out!"

* * *

Lee looked out at the island that housed their field trip destination as she made her way through the crowd of people, ignoring the fact no one seemed to know who she was, even though she had been on the news and had been called by name. It spoke volumes about how much people were used to seeing a tomboy instead of her more feminine get-up than she herself was used to wearing.

Lee leaned over the rail at the front of the ferry the class was taking to the island and heard footsteps coming over to her and she looked up, smiling lightly. "I thought you had a reputation to protect?" she asked raising a brow.

"I do, but who's gonna notice me talking to you for five minutes?" Biff replied smirking.

Lee noticed Brandy staring with her arms crossed and a disapproving look on her face. She reframed from pointing out that a few people might notice. "So, what exactly did you say to stall my mom?" she asked tilting her head.

"I told her we were going out." Biff deadpanned and Lee stared at him in horror before he chuckled. "Kidding! I talked to her about Math."

"You're not in my class, 'cause I'd notice if you were." Lee replied and started blushing at the part that was _not_ supposed to be said aloud.

"Really now?" Biff asked as his smirk widened and he casually placed one of his hands over Lee's.

The redhead looked down and then back up, her face growing even redder as she realized this wasn't accidental. She also realized that while she might not know why she was attracted to him, but she did know she really liked him. "Yes." She found herself saying and felt the need to change the subject. "So how come you can tell it's me?"

"You don't look much different than from before, or at least that's the way I see it." The taller boy replied and Lee nodded before she spotted Cam and Holger.

"Oh, it's my friends." She said and Biff removed his hand from hers and away from the rail.

"You I can stand, but don't ask me to like your friends." He said before walking away and Lee looked back over the rail at the island.

"Oh, the island of Doctor Splat man." Cam said looking out over the island as well. "It'll turn your blood into delicious green apple soda."

"That frog stuff was crazy." Lee said glancing at them both. "And probably not a coincidence that it was also dissection day."

Holger held his stomach. "Boats make rocky movements!" he said holding the rail as Greta came up.

"Hey Holger." She said as Holger barfed over the edge after she hit his back. "It's it just a perfect day for an aquatic journey?" she questioned and stared when he threw up. "Uh, I'll come back later."

"That's…one way to win her over." Lee said tentatively.

"Chica, you know I haven't seen this many frogs since," Cam's voice went low, "the big prank."

Lee looked over at the remaining students. "So, who's really into frogs?" she questioned before looking back at the island.

* * *

The class was standing in the main lobby as a worker came to be their tour guide. "I'm Sal, welcome to the Green Apple Splat factory, this is the tour." He said before opening a fridge. "This is the free samples."

Cam chuckled. "Bonus, I'm gonna drink so much free splat it's gonna turn my hair _green_."

Lee looked over at the tree huggers. "Hey, crazy thing with the frogs?"

"Yeah, I heard you say 'free the frogs' just yesterday," Tina agreed, "any idea with what happened this morning?"

"Oh, no way I'd talk to Miss Corporate media!" Suzie exclaimed. "You'll like take my truth and turn it into a pie of lies!"

"Did someone mention something about pie?" Holger questioned.

"There's my _BBF_," Brandy said grabbing a hold of Lee's arm and pulled her away, "I've been looking for you."

Lee looked around as she heard the tour guide mention something about a movie, but turned her attention to Brandy. "What was that about?"

The other girl ignored her words and crossed her arms. "Like I said before, we need to talk." She said and Lee let out a quiet groan. "You're _pretty_ Lee, and that means you can get hot guys, popular ones." She said and Lee couldn't believe she was hearing this.

"Brandy, I'm not that shallow." She replied frowning.

Brandy shrugged as she took out a paper from her purse and handed it to her. "No BFF of mine is going to be stuck with the school _bully_. So here's a list of guys that would _gladly_ date you when you come to your senses." She said smugly.

Lee's frown deepened as she gave the list a cursory glance. "Brandy, there's no way you can expect me to just drop my attraction for-whoa this is a lot." She said distractedly, and some part of her felt flattered. Not enough to make her change her mind of course though. "Whatever, the class is moving on." She said catching back up to her friend's as they were all ushered into a room where a projector was set up.

"Green Apple Splat; once the nostril cleaner of Mesopotamian royalty, now the nation's fifth leading carbonated drink. Founded by Doctor Leopold Webber back in 1952 when a top secret government brainwashing experiment involving apples and frogs went horribly array. The doctor turned his misfortune into the tasty beverage we all love today. Green Apple Splat, it's the splattiest."

Sal turned the projector off. "And that's the movie. Wow, every time I see it, I wonder why I get out of bed in the morning. Now if you'll follow me…" he trailed off and the students followed after him to the main chamber. "That's the apple smusher, the core exploder, that's where I eat my lunch, and that's the coloring vat." He said as they stopped in front of a tank filled with _frogs_.

"Ah, are those _real_ frogs swimming in the juice?" Suzie asked outraged and everyone splat out their drinks of Green Apple Splat.

"That's how we get the coloring. The process is very refined; the frogs rarely explode anymore." Sal explained and there were gasps from the tree huggers. "The Splat goes there. Careful tall weird looking…boy?" he asked confused before pressing on as Holger looked over the controls. "That's a delicate machine. We had a meltdown in the nineties, had to shut down 'til last year. Not fun."

"Could it happen again?" Tina questioned.

"Sure, if someone say, pulled all these levers down, but who'd want to do a thing like that?" Sal questioned. "If a meltdown occurs, the place seals itself off."

"What about everyone trapped inside?" Tina asked.

"They either disintegrate from the fumes or go insane and be quarantined in wing 13." Sal explained.

"Mr. Grumpy Apple Man, is ving 13 the teensy bit haunted by ghosts maybe?" Holger asked.

"Don't know, probably." Sal replied.

"How did the meltdown happen?" Tina asked again.

"First there was a loud siren," Sal said and there was a blaring noise overhead, "like that. Then red lights came on." He said and the room starte4d flashing red, "like that. Then we ran, like this." He said running away. "No, seriously, you'd better run." He warned.

"Come on people, go, go." Barrage directed as the students all ran for the exit.

Lee saw Cam trying to pick up fallen bottles of the Splat and she grabbed his arm. "Cam, come on." She said pulling him toward the exit, only for a small group of students to get stuck inside the factory and the room started to shake.

"Okay, we are officially trapped." Lynch said stating the obvious.

"I can't get a signal." Greta said after trying her cell phone.

"They forgot us?" Tina questioned cupping her cheeks.

"I have about forty reasons why they'd forget _you_." Brandy said. "But how could they forget _me_?"

"Okay, that's it, we are so on." Tina said tackling Brandy to the floor.

Lee looked back from where she'd been looking around, suddenly turning around saw Tina and Brandy wrestling before hurrying over and pulled them apart. "Girls, they'll realize where missing and figure a way to get us out." She said reasonably.

"Chica's right, while we wait, uh, wanna play spin the bottle?" Cam questioned holding up an empty bottle of Splat.

Lee slapped her forehead. "Something tells me this is gonna be a long day." She muttered.

"Well at least we won't go thirsty." Cam said taking a drink from another bottle of Splat. "Aw man but we could starve to death."

"It's been two minutes, you'll be fine." Lee said flatly.

"The controls have been moved." Tina said from looking over the panel. "Someone did this on purpose." She said putting her hands on her sides and turned around and looked pointedly at Lee.

"What?" she asked indignantly. "They're the suspicious ones." She said gesturing to the tree huggers.

"Don't look at us, we didn't do anything." Suzie snapped and picked up a frog. "There, you are so safe n-"

The speaker blared overhead. _"Meltdown will commence in 30 minutes, for all those trapped inside, panic may commence immediately."_

"Meltdown!" Suzie shouted. "We gotta save the frogs."

"Forget the frogs; we have to find a way to stop this. Now." Lee replied and pushed the levers all up and the speakers came on again.

_"Recalculating, meltdown will commence in 15 minutes."_

Lee felt herself flush in embarrassment. "Not what I had in mind."

"Oh that's just great." Tina said sarcastically.

"Guys over here, I found a way out!" Lynch called and opened a door, though there was a strange sound coming from it.

"But sad Splat man maybe it is the haunting." Holger said.

The speakers came again. "_Powering down station to save energy for the cataclysmic explosion."_ The mechanized voice said as the lights all shut down and the machinery did as well.

Cam suddenly howled and shrugged when he got stared at. "I don't know, just seemed like the right thing to do you know?"

"Guys, in most disaster situations it's usually best to stay where you are and wait for rescue." Tina said logically.

"We can wait here _hoping_ they come get us, or we can do something." Brandy said. "Who's with me and what's his name?"

"It's Lynch. I DJ'ed your party." Lynch said in offence.

"Whatever." Brandy said dismissively and pulled out a packet from her purse as she walked over to the door. "I got gummy bears."

"Food?" Cam questioned.

"Gutenberries?" Holger also asked and the rest of the students went through the door, leaving Tina and Lee behind.

"I didn't do this." The redhead said again.

_"Meltdown in 14 minutes."_

"Okay, I did the thing that made the explosion countdown faster," Lee admitted hastily, "but I was trying to help!"

"Leaping, get your butt down here!" Brandy yelled and Lee morosely followed with Tina.

"According to Sal, in the very informative brochure, those who didn't die from the last meltdown went bat crazy from the fumes." Lynch read from the pamphlet and Cam smelled the air.

"Smells like the prank in here." He pointed out.

"Really?" Lee questioned.

"What happened to the crazy stinky people?" Greta asked.

"You really don't wanna know." Lynch replied.

Lee looked out from the corner of her eye before turning on the tree huggers with a glare. "You guys did this, didn't you? I saw you eyeballing that panel."

"Okay, I admit it, maybe we sorta did touch the controls, but we had to totally like save the frogs." Suzie explained.

"What about the frogs during the prank?" Lee questioned. "Was that you to?" she pressed and the sounds of screeching suddenly pierced the air.

"What was that?" Greta asked.

"Maybe perhaps the ghost of insane Splat workers is happen now." Holger replied.

"I'm scared, even though there is no scientific proof that ghosts don't exist." Greta explained.

"Holger protect you." Holger said and in a more quiet voice looked down at his smaller friend. "And Cam protect me."

_"Quick update, no rush, but it is 10 minutes 'til meltdown, just saying."_

The students quickly got moving and Lee noticed something on the door. "Wait, it's that logo again."

"_Core meltdown in 9 minutes."_

"Least we'll know _when _we'll explode." Cam said.

"Whateves, it's better than staying in one place and crying about it." Brandy snapped.

"Are you naturally horrible or do you work really hard at it?" Tina asked angrily.

"Lee, tell her not to talk to me." Brandy said to the redhead.

"Okay, both of you stop." Lee said feeling a migraine about to come on. "You can have a battle royale when we're out of-" she was cut off by the sound of growling and Holger looked at the end of the hall.

"Monster, Holger say bye." He said running, along with the other students until Lee pushed her arms out and stopped them at the dead end.

"Seriously?" she asked flatly.

"I told you we should have waited." Brandy said deftly.

"_I_ said that, you wanted to go!" Tina snapped back at her.

"Over here, looky lou at this." Lynch said pulling a grate off the floor and the ladder leading down into the pit.

"How did you know that was there?" Lee questioned.

"It says in the brochure that they get their water from this spring." Lynch replied.

"Yeah, but that ladder really doesn't look safe." Cam pointed out.

_"Core explosion in 8 minutes."_

Lee looked down to see Cam already inside the tunnel. "What, I never said unsafe was _bad_." Cam said going down the ladder and everyone else followed.

Lee heard the ladder start to creak and stopped Lynch from going down into the pit as well. "Take turns, it's too fragile." She said, but upon seeing a shadowy figure at the end of the tunnel, everyone else hustled down and Lee wanted to roll her eyes.

"This is probably bad timing, but I think that big prank o reno you did on the first day of school was pretty darn cool." Lynch said and Lee felt her eyes narrow as she couldn't believe this was happening. _Now_ of all times.

"Yeah, bad timing, but thanks." She said after Lynch went down into the pit and she went in herself, only to feel worse after everyone's complaining and felt the ladder creak under her hands. "Guys, stop moving, the ladder's going to-ahh!"

The ladder gave way and everyone fell deeper into the pit, landing in a heap at the bottom in water before standing back up and taking a big breath of air.

"Great, now we're really stuck." Tina said.

"How do you think the frogs feel?" Suzie questioned.

"We need a way out. Look around." Lee said gesturing to the bars surrounding them.

"Check this out, a door!" Lynch said and everyone gathered around.

"Weird lock." Cam observed the strange circle imprints in the door. "Anyone got a weird key?"

Lee paused at that. "Weird key?" she whispered to herself and walked over to the door.

"Uh, my shoes are ruined and now my hair is starting to frizz, could this _get_ any worse?" Brandy exclaimed.

_"Just a reminder guys, meltdown in six minutes."_

"Yeah, thanks!" Brandy yelled.

_"Any time._"

Lee matched up the 'key' she had found in her bag and was looking over the lock before she felt someone touch her shoulder and hid the key behind her back as she looked at Suzie.

"Hey, Ping." She began.

"Yeah, what?" Lee asked disinterestedly.

"The frog thing, during the big prank. Since we're doomed and stuff, I think I want like a clean conscience." Suzie replied.

"Let me guess, it was you?" Lee questioned flatly.

"Yeah, but it wasn't on purpose." Suzie said. "We thought since everyone was busy in assembly, it was a perfect time to _free_ them, but they got away from us, so uh…"

"And since they blamed me, you figured you figured I'd get blamed here too, look, I'm trying to get us out of _your_ mess, so if you don't mind…" Lee trailed off when she heard a noise coming from above.

"Whoa. You guys see that?" Cam questioned as he saw two shadows going along the tunnel.

Lee took the moment of distraction to put the key in the lock and turned it, the door opening a moment later. "Say, how did you do that?" she heard Lynch ask and she hid the key again.

"Huh, it was…jammed or something." Lee replied vaguely and was surprised when Tina hugged her.

"We're saved!" she exclaimed.

"Holger not want to interrupted the friend moment…" Holger trailed off as he pointed up into the tunnel.

Lee felt her arms being grabbed and she was pulled away from Tina. "I am sick of her trying to make time with my BFF and I'm sick of running from this…whatever it is!" Brandy yelled pointing up to the tunnel and Lee realized she was being used as a human shield.

Before Lee could retort to this conclusion, _Barrage_ came falling from the tunnel and fell into the water, short circuiting as well.

"Scary ghost monster was …Barrage!" Holger exclaimed.

"He was trying to save us." Lee said in astonishment.

"_4 minutes 'til meltdown, and you won't like me when I meltdown."_

"The door! Let's go, adios!" Cam said as the group ran past Lee.

"Guys, we can't leave Barrage here." She said pushing a rolling chair over to the cyborg and lifted up one arm. "Com one everyone, grab a piece of him." she said as they all lifted him and set him onto the chair.

_"Three minutes 'til meltdown. If you're not out of here by now, you may not be trying hard enough."_

"Shut up!" They all yelled before running out into the tunnel, Cam helping Lee push the chair Barrage was on and the chair hit the door edge.

"Oh my bad." Cam said and the chair hit the other edge of the door. "Oops, my bad again." He said before the chair finally went through the door and Lee looked up at the ceiling.

"These tunnels, there like the ones under the school." She pointed out.

"Whoa girl, can we take a break?" Cam said looking winded.

_"Core explosion in 2 minutes."_

"I'm guessing not." Cam revised.

"Keep moving guys, run!" Lee yelled and the group only stopped after seeing the two blue serpent creatures coming out into the tunnel.

"Tatzelwurms?" Lee questioned and glanced down at Cam. _"What?_" she asked aloud as she saw one of the serpents chase after Tina and the redhead gasped as her friend was backed into a corner. "Tina, _no_." she said trying to run over, only to get knocked to the ground by the second serpent and cringed back for a moment before narrowing her eyes and kicking it off her before hurrying to her feet and pulled Tina out of the way from the other serpent.

"Wow, thanks." She said before Brandy pulled Lee away again.

"Uh-uh."

_"1 minute 'til meltdown._"

One of the serpents tried to jump at them, though stopped when Cam threw his soda can at it and the other one grabbed Lynch by it's tail.

"Please, help me!" he called and Lee grabbed a torch from the side of the tunnel and shoved the light in the serpent's face, causing it to hiss and back away, but as both of the serpent's started circling them, Lee gritted her teeth trying to keep them at bay.

The surprise came when a conscious Barrage grabbed the serpent and the other one, holding them at bay. "Go, get moving." He said and Lee and Lynch glanced at each other before running toward the group.

"What's he saying?" Suzie questioned.

"Something about moving, go!" Lee shouted and looked back before she kept on running when the warning came on again.

_"Thirty seconds 'til unpleasantness."_

"_10 second 'til meltdown…9…8…7…"_

"We know how to count!" Suzie shouted at the speakers.

"_I don't think I like your tone, and just for that, 6, 3, 2, count down aborted." _

"Wow, we're saved." Lee said before the speaker came on again.

_"Just kidding, 2, 1."_

There was a loud explosion as the surrounding area began to shake and their main way of escaping was caved in, forcing them to go down another path.

"Oh no." Lee said. "Run, this way." She said moving down the hall toward the ladder. "Up there." She said she was so glad to be out of the factory that she ignored the conversations around her to stare out at the smoking factory, well, until Barrage came out of the tunnel.

"You…" he said threatening and Lee cringed, "got everyone out?" he sounded surprised.

"Never leave a solider behind." Lee said boldly.

"Hmm, you done good private, but it don't mean I'm cuttin' ya any slack!" Barrage shouted the last part. "All I wanna know is…who is responsible for this?" he shouted and everyone pointed at the tree huggers.

When the bus rolled around after everyone had made it back to dry land and everyone was waiting to get on the bus, Lee pulled Biff away from the crowd. "Listen, don't speak, _please._ This is hard enough to say without you interrupting, but when I thought that we were really gonna die for a second, I realized something….I like you, like a lot. More than any boy, _ever_, and I get that you might not like _me_ in that way, but I just thought you should know that…if I had to ever chose, it'd always be you." She explained, a bright flush coming to her cheeks, feeling incredibly vulnerable.

There was no response and the silence lasted just a little too long, making the ache that formed in Lee's heart clench, but her head was tilted upward and he kissed her, the redhead letting her eyes droop shut.

_'To hell with standards.'_

* * *

"I stink." Lee complained looking down at her hands in front of her computer where her friends were signed in.

"Poppa make me hot bath with tomato juice and oregano van stinkies." Holger replied. "Delicious Holger soup!" he said hugging himself.

"Oh like yo man, I feel like really sick." Cam said. "Way to much Green Apple Splat, I don't even think I like it anymore." He said before barfing on the floor.

"Heh, later dudes." Lee replied before turning her screen off. _'So found out who did the frog part of the prank, but they weren't part of the big conspiracy, but I did find out that this is definitely a key,'_ Lee thought looking down at the item in her hand, '_and I'm pretty sure the Tatzelwurm gave it to me. What other secrets does this key hold?_' she thought before letting the morose and introspective thought faded away to something else and let a grin spread along her lips. _'I _got_ kissed!'_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Lee held onto her seat as her mom's SUV lurched to a stop and Cam was launch forward as he coughed. "Whoa Mrs. Ping, a drive with you is like an adventure and almost dying." He said before hastily adding, "Don't get me wrong though, it's awesome."

Lee smirked as she opened the door. "Bye mom, thanks for the lift."

"Try to stay dry, I love you and happy-" Lee closed the door before her mother could finish her sentence and walked toward the school with Cam, both of them drenched and Lee shielded her face as Cam shook his head of the water.

"Grooss!" The three cheerleaders exclaimed.

"Hn hn, sorry Chicas, my bad." He said in apology. "Hey, why don't you let Cam dry you off with a hug?"

"Ew, grosser." One Cheerleader said as the three of them walked away.

"You know that did not turn out like I imagined it." Cam said as Lee punched him in the arm as she walked by him.

"Really, 'cause it turned out exactly the way I did." She chuckled walking down the hall toward her locker, her clothes feeling clingy already.

"Lee! Lee!" She heard Holger call as he ran up. "Holger wish you many-" he was cut off as Cam elbowed him. "Uh, Holger wishing ice cream sandwiches stayed cold in pockets." He said taking a pile of mush of his pocket.

"Wait, why are you so dry?" Lee asked in confusion.

"Why Cam and Lee wet? You no take underground passage when air cries?" Holger questioned.

Lee closed the door to her locker. "You found tunnels under the school?" she asked in realization. "You mean…they're real? I didn't dream it?"

"Holger find way in at Brandy's condo that goes all the way in here." Holger replied.

"Where's the school entrance?" Lee asked.

"In back of library with old spooky books." Holger replied. "But Holger can no open the door from the library's side, only the tunnel side."

"Maybe this can open it?" Lee asked herself as she took the key out of her pocket. "It worked on the tunnel in the island." She said glancing up at the clock in the hallway. "There might be time, Ping out." She said bumping fists with Cam and racing down the hall and had to avoid bumping into anyone. "Out of my way! Coming through!" she exclaimed breathlessly as she heard the bell ring just as she reached the library. "Shoot, out of time." She said as she heard the metal footsteps and hurried to class.

"Good morning A. Nigma High, I'm Tina Kwee-"

"And more importantly, I'm Chaz Monorainian, hi, and we are your school news, well mostly me, not so much we, _me."_

_"Anyway_, our top story-"

"Is that Chaz Monorainian has just uncovered the scoop of the century!"

"Actually, out top story is about our very own debate team coming in first at the-"

"Who the heck cares event, am I right? People this is epic, huge, what I've uncovered is gonna blow your mind!" Chaz exclaimed. "Be here in a few days when I reveal the big event. All live, all here on Chaz's Corner. With Chaz!"

Lee walked into the class, her clothes having dried out a little as she walked up to the teacher's desk. "Sorry I'm late-" her explanation was cut off as the fire alarm went off and she held her hands up defensively. "I swear I did not do that."

"Well if that wasn't one of your schoolgirl pranks, then…oh, it must be a real fire!" Mr. Langhorne shouted as he ran out of the class and soon everyone else was as well.

Lee made her way back out into the rain, looking around the outside of the school where all the other students were before she spotted her friends. "Hey, guys!" she called and made her way over, but after a couple of students passed by they were gone. She didn't have time to think about that before her cell went off. "What the-that ringtone, Radcircles is back? Knock knock, great, a lame knock knock joke. Must be him." she said in annoyance before the cell went off again and she read the message. "It's not lame you are." She said incredulously and looked around. "He can hear me?" she asked herself before spotting her friends again and they seemed to be talking to Cyrus and she made her way over to them once more. "Hey, how come you guys keep avoiding me?"

"Yo, Ping, check you later." Cyrus said before he and his band walked off.

"Us, avoiding _you_? Essay, come on, you got it all backwards, we've been trying to _find_ you." Cam replied.

"Lee, we have to talk." Tina said as she walked over with her umbrella.

"Kinda in the middle of-" Lee stopped herself as she noticed that her friend's had disappeared again. "Man, what's up with those guys?" she asked rubbing her head in confusion.

"Did you see the news? Chaz is determined to scoop me and you keep promising me a prank exclusive." Tina replied. "I think it's time you paid up." She said putting a recorder in Lee's face and cleared her throat. "Ahem, so what inspired you to assault the school on day one of the new year? How exactly did you do it?" she questioned as the fire truck started up and sped away.

"Ping!" Barrage shouted suddenly and Lee jumped with a start.

"Ah! I mean, gah, sir." She said.

"It seems we had a little false alarm, and I said to myself; Wendell, cause that's my first name, Wendell, what kind of pariah would be so devious to pull a false fire alarm?" Barrage shouted the last part before his voice lowered threateningly. "And you know what answer I came up with?"

"I'm sure the punch line is me, but come on; I swear I didn't do it." Lee replied.

"I have the real perpetrator right here." The vice principal said moving Lynch in front of them. "Caught him red handed."

"You?" Both Lee and Barrage said in disbelief.

* * *

"Where's Barrage?" Lee questioned in the detention room. "He's never late."

"Why so anxious to see the tin man?" Biff asked before picking up the orange cat. "Well hello Mrs. Rumple-Kittykat, are you ready to show Lee our new thing?"

Lee took the key out of her pack and looked up to tell him her explanation. "I wanna try out this key so I can check out." She said before looking at the clock. "Come on."

"Ah hey, check this out." Biff said as he grabbed the cat's paws and pressed a button on his cell. "Now just like we rehearsed, okay?" he questioned before pressing down the paws onto the buttons to make a rhythmic sound.

"Holger found an entrance to the tunnels, and I have a key and-" Lee explained in a rush before she could stop herself and when she did she registered what her…whatever, had said and looked down at the cat. "That's…_really_ distracting."

"And cute though, right?" Biff questioned.

"Yes it's cute." Lee admitted as she let a small smile slip before her face cleared. "But I have to get back into those tunnels-" she said and her eyes widened and the door slammed open, making her turn back around in her seat as Barrage held Lynch by the back of his collar.

"Brought you a new 'playmate,' Mr. I-think-wasting-the-fire-department's-time-is-funny!" he yelled.

"Lynch?" Lee exclaimed in surprise.

"In detention?" Biff questioned in a much darker tone that had Lee glancing at him through the corner of her eye.

"With us?" she asked as the other teen leaned down next to her.

"I don't think you're going anywhere." He said as the cat pressed down a sound effect that normally followed bad news.

Lee rubbed her forehead with one hand as Barrage dropped Lynch and left, the teen eating a peanut.

"Yo, yo!" Lynch shouted and waved his arms downward in a crisscross motion. "Word!" he coughed and held his stomach. "By golly, you're the cutest thing ever." He said looking down at the orange cat, who meowed. "Hey there, I ain't gonna hurt ya-ow!" he exclaimed pulling his hand back as the cat scratched him and Mrs. Rumple jumped into Biff's hands.

"There, there, did Mr. Someone-doesn't-here-hurt-you?" he asked and the cat started purring.

Lee figured she should be the one to start the talking and looked over at Lynch. "So, why'd you pull the alarm?" she asked putting her hands on her sides.

"'Cause of you! You're my hero!" Lynch exclaimed and Lee raised her brow in surprise. "The first day prank, and on the island when we went into that tunnel, blew my mind; what a rush! I had to do something else, when I saw the alarm-"

"Yeah well, you might wanna try not getting _caught_ next time." Lee interrupted him.

"Great idea!" Lynch exclaimed and wrote it down on a notepad he had with him. "'Don't get caught next time.' And how do I do that?"

"I don't know, this isn't prank class." Lee said dismissively as she walked away from him.

"But you're Lee Ping! You're the prank masta, school blasta, Lee Ping is the girl of disasta!" Lynch rapped, rather badly at that.

'_The _hell?' Lee thought in a confused sort of horror as Lynch continued.

"Can I get a what what? Can I get a what what?" he asked and lowered his arms and sighed. "Please Master of Pranks, teach me."

"Someone has a crush." Biff pointed out as he spoke through clenched teeth and Lee really didn't want to have to deal with this right now.

"I don't know," Lee said hastily, "be sneaky, plan ahead, don't just act randomly."

"Sorry, what was that last part?" Lynch questioned.

"Don't act randomly." Lee said punctuating each word and leaned over to the taller teen. "Man I think you're right, I'm so stuck here."

* * *

Lee barreled out of the detention room and sprinted down the hall. "Five minutes 'til class, oodles of time." She muttered and when she passed the hall, she saw Cam passing Brandy a note and stopped in her tracks before moving back and saw no one was there. "What the?" she said aloud before shrugging and kept on running and when she made it to the library, she went straight for the older books.

"Now, if I was a secret passage, where would I be?" she asked herself and saw the torch like object and tried to push the head up like in the movies, but all she got was it flying into the air. "Ah!" she shouted in surprise and made a grab for it. "Usually works in the movies." She said and noticed the vice principal coming over with the cleaners and she ducked out of sight behind the book shelf and overheard her talking about the library to the Matheletes.

"We're transforming this drab library; it will be closed at 4:15." She said.

"How long will the library close for renovations?" Irwin asked.

"Two to three weeks, so get your books now before the end of the day rush." Victoria replied.

"Great," Lee said to herself as she walked over to the wall with the torch, "this could be my last day to use the secret door; assuming I can even find it." She said feeling along the line in the wall and made a thoughtful sound. "I bet this whole thing spins around, there's got to be a-" she was cut off by the sound of the fire alarm and slapped her forehead. "Aw man, the fire alarm, _again?_"

When everyone was outside, Lee hid behind a much taller teen and looked around him and heard Barrage yelling, "There better be a real fire this time."

Lee pulled back and saw Cam and Holger talking to Steve, and before she could ponder this, her cell went off. "Looks like your friends are up to something." She read to herself and when she looked back up they were gone. "Ugh!"

"Lee," Tina called and an umbrella appeared over Lee's head, "I still need your help, _please_, Chaz seriously wants to squeeze me off the news desk, I'm begging you."

"Well, today I do get to take the street car home alone. Kind of a special day and all, so I can afford to be late, how about after then?" Lee questioned.

"Really? Thank you!" Tina exclaimed and threw her arms around the redhead before pulling back and flushed. "Uh, okay, will shoot in the studio. Come over as soon as your out, you promise?"

"Yeah, were on." Lee shrugged as the fire truck blared and drove off and they were all allowed to go back inside.

* * *

"Now, I might not be able to _prove_ any one of you woolly mudflaps pulled that second alarm," Barrage said to the three students in detention and looked pointedly at Lee, "but I know in my titanium bones that one of you _did_." He said before catching on of the peanuts Lynch kept throwing in his mouth and eating it himself. "And when my men finish dusting for fingerprints, one of you is going down!" he exclaimed slamming the door to the room shut as he left.

Lee got up from her seat and placed her hands on Lynch's, her eyes wide and accusing. "So let me guess, you did _again?_"

"You bet your bippy." Lynch replied. "I just wanted to try out some of the sneaky moves you told me about, and it totally worked!"

"Yeah, what about fingerprints?" Lee questioned.

"I wore gloves." Lynch replied. "Like you said, _sneaky_."

Lee put a hand to her chin for a moment. "Not bad." She admitted before putting her hands back on the desk and leaning down. "But you know what's even more important about being sneaky? Keeping a secret." She whispered and heard a cough from behind her.

"Ahem! A moment." Biff said pulling her to the other side of the room. "What are you doing?"

"I need to find those tunnels again." Lee replied in a whisper.

"With him here?" Biff questioned. "No dude, bad idea, there's something off about him."

If Lee didn't know any better, she'd swear he sounded almost jealous, but that was illogical. Hell, _he_ the one who brought up Lynch's 'crush' in the first place so that couldn't be it and took it as Biff being genuinely concerned and heard Mrs. Rumple let out a loud screech as she scratched Lynch on the hand.

"I know it; Rumple-Kitty knows it, why can't you see it?" Biff continued.

"She just knows you don't like him." Lee replied and waved aside the concern for the moment and felt oddly confident. "Don't worry, I got this." She said and ignore the teen's growl and held one finger up and her other hand behind her back. "Lesson number two; keeping secrets."

"Hot digiddy, I can do that. Boom, secret time!" Lynch exclaimed.

"Right." Lee said slowly. "So I'm gonna sneak out for a second or two; I'll be right back, and this'll be our first test secret."

"Gotcha padre." Lynch said and Lee made a slight face.

"Back in ten." She said and took off out the door and ran down the hall and knelt down next to the stairs and felt her elbow hit something and looked back to see that Lynch had followed her. "Dude, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, I figured I could learn some more from you know, watching you in person like." Lynch explained as Lee stood back up.

"Lesson one; _those_ are cameras," she began and looked around the wall up the stairwell, "do not walk in front of them. Now seriously, you gotta go back." She added.

"Can I just say you are the best teacher I've ever had?" Lynch asked. "And I've had a lot."

"Not the best time for a story buddy." Lee said pulling back as she saw the Tatzelwurm being chased by the cleaners and she and Lynch hid in the crevice of two lockers as the commotion past by them.

"Wow, you're so _good_ at this." Lynch said amazed.

Lee cringed back at the smell of his breath. "Uh, thanks, did you eat _tuna_ for lunch?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Lynch questioned.

"Lucky guess." Lee deadpanned and contemplated sending him back to the detention room, but brushed it aside as a waste of time since she was sure he'd just follow her again. "Fine, you can come, it's better than letting you get busted out here." She said checking to make sure the coast was clear.

"Awesome!" Lynch yelled and Lee shot him a look over her shoulder. "Sorry. Awesome." He repeated more quietly as Lee moved out of the crevice and sprinted back down the hall and past the camera, crawling on the floor under another, moving along the wall for the third, and hiding behind a trashcan to avoid another.

"Genius, is there anything you don't know?" Lynch asked.

"Huh?" Lee asked herself as she saw her friends Holger and Tina at the school entrance. "What is Holger doing here after school? And who's the dude with the package?"

"Should we go spy on them?" Lynch suggested as Lee was growing uncomfortable at how close he was.

"Naw, gotta stay on mission." She said and quickly moved away from the trashcan. "Come on." She added and they ran up the stairwell and when they reached the library, they crawled under the librarian's desk toward the hall where the tunnel was. "You keep watch." She said stopping momentarily. "Let me know if the librarian starts coming this way." She said before roving her finger along the stack of book before finding a big one. "The history of Alexander Nigma? Hey, that's the book the play was based on." She said to herself as she took the book off the shelf and when she looked up, she found the lock. "You gotta be kidding me." She said in disbelief and shot another look over her shoulder at Lynch when she heard the snap of a peanut shell. "Shh!" she hissed before putting the key she had onto the lock and the wall moved to the side.

"Ring-a-ding-ding, how'd you open that?" Lynch questioned.

Lee heard her cell go off and moved to the side and put it to her ear. "Lynch is gone." She heard Biff say.

"Guess how I already know that?" Lee asked sardonically.

"He's with _you_?" Biff asked and paused. "_Perfect_." Lee could have sworn that she heard jealously in the other teen's voice, but that would be ridiculous. "But you gotta get back; something big's going on, _real big_."

"Okay, okay, I'll just get Lynch-" Lee stopped. "No Lynch, come back, I'll call you back." She said and hung up her phone as she went after Lynch down into the high-tech tunnels.

"This is the coolest thing I've ever done." Lynch commented and Lee stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Keep it down." She warned in a whisper. "We should head back."

"Whoa, what in tarnations is that?" Lynch questioned when he saw the giant door thing blocking their way.

Lee sprinted over to it and took her key out, briefly considering it before putting the key on the same patterns and gave it a twist, the door moving up and out of the way.

"Hey, how did you-" Lynch started before looking around. "I don't really think we should go any further."

"Sh!" Lee hissed and decided that since they were already in here, on they went. "This is the tunnel I found when I had that fever." She said in realization.

"This is getting way too weird for me, you were right, we should go back." Lynch said.

Lee heard the sounds of footsteps on the floor and cringed. "Hide." She said and saw a button, pushing it as the door behind them slid up and they hurried inside, peeking around the door to wait for the person to step into view, Lee letting out a gasp at who it was.

"Who is that?" Lynch asked.

"My…dad?" Lee asked, unsure of what was going on.

"Really? What's he doing?" Lynch asked again and Lee shushed him.

"I have no idea." She said honestly as her father swiped a key card along the pad and the door slid open and when it closed, Lee hurried over to it and paused. "Hold on, I think that's the brainwashing room." She said turning down the hall.

"Brainwashing? Lee, seriously we have to go back, I can't get expelled, my parents are square, they'll never understand." Lynch explained.

"If I can get through, Tina can scoop Chaz and bust this brainwashing scam right open." Lee said mostly to herself and pressed the button to open the door.

"No wait!" Lynch exclaimed.

Lee gaped at the lack of evidence. "No, it's gone! It's all gone." She said walking into the room and over to the glass window. "There was a chair over here, and these high-tech lights and Green Apple Splat propaganda _everywhere_."

"Students were being brainwashed?" Lynch asked.

"Something like that." Lee admitted. "I can't believe it's all gone."

"Maybe they ran out of funding?" Lynch suggested.

"Or, they got what they _needed_. Come on, let's keep exploring." Lee stopped after she heard crunching and looked over her shoulder at Lynch, who was eating more of his peanuts.

"What?" he asked and Lee shook her head before they retraced their steps and stood in front of the door her father had went into.

"There's the door my dad went through." She pointed out.

"I thought you wanted to head back." Lynch said accusingly.

"I may never get another chance, keep watch." Lee said using her key to open the door and when it slid open, she went in. The redhead stared around the room and walked over to the desk. "Whoa." She said to herself and heard even louder crunching. "Dude, seriously, would you stop eating those? You're gonna get us busted."

"Sorry, I eat when I get nervous, or excited, or tired, or scared, or hungry, or full, but I'll stop. My peanut days are over, I swear." Lynch said raising one hand solemnly.

Lee moved a paper away and looked over the desk, noticing a picture frame and picked it up. "The picture of my parents. Is this my dad's desk?"

"What'd you find?" Lynch asked.

"Uh, just some schematics." Lee replied as she took the picture out of the frame and put the empty frame back down. "This could be the big scoop Tina was looking for." She added and took out her cell before hitting speed dial for her friend's number.

"Hello?"

"Tina, have I got a story for you." Lee started off.

"Really? But you have to get back to deten-wait, what kind of story?" Tina questioned.

"Only the biggest conspiracy _ever_." Lee replied and paused. "Hey, how did you know I'm not in detention?"

"Uh, you said 'story,' so I just assumed…" Tina trailed off.

"Just meet me at the back of the library, quick." Lee said and she and Lynch left the room, finally going back to the library and she heard the other teen's phone ring.

"Uh, mom, I can't talk right now, I'm with a friend." He said sounding awkward before hanging up. "Uh, not to be a nervous Nelson, but we really should get back to detention. It's been fun, but you know, too much of a good thing."

"No, I owe Tina big time." Lee said as they made it to the entrance.

"Lee," Tina called before the girl showed up, "detention's nearly over-what's all this?" she asked gesturing to the secret passage.

"Come on, there's no time." Lee said pulling Tina into the hall of the tunnel.

"Okay! You definitely have my attention!" Tina yelled.

"This is a bad idea." Lynch said.

"Good thing you like being bad, right bad boy?" Lee joked smirking.

"I can't believe there are tunnel's down here, I read somewhere that the school was built over an old subway station, but that's not really a news story students are gonna care about." Tina pointed out as Lee used her key to open the door.

"It's way bigger than that, someone's using these tunnels." Lee replied as the door slid up, revealing nothing but a now empty room. "Wha? I don't believe it! It's impossible, Lynch, back me up. There was a desk _right here_ and all these schematics."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure what we saw now." Lynch said.

"This just in, school has extra broom closet. Come on, you need to get back for the surprise-whatever, let's just go." Tina said and when they left the room, Lee heard the sound of the cleaners approaching.

"Man, how did they find us?" she questioned aloud and noticed the crumbs on the floor. "Your shells lead them right to us."

"Them who?" Lynch asked confused.

Lee noticed the cleaners at the corner. "Run!" she yelled and the three of them made way for the exit.

"Are those electrified collars? That can't be legal, now _this_ is a story-uh!" Tina exclaimed after she'd stopped and Lee ran back to pull her down the hall.

"Keep moving or you'll never do another story about anything ever again!" Lee shouted and heard her phone ring.

"Uh, dude, you need to get back here, _now_." she heard Biff say.

"That's gonna take a huge distraction." Lee replied.

"One huge distraction coming up." Biff replied before ending the call.

Lee heard the fire alarm ring and realized what that distraction was.

"There gaining on us!" Tina shouted over the bell and the three of them stopped dead when they saw the door was blocking the exit and the cleaners moved in on them.

"I could really use a peanut right now." Lynch said when the speaker came on.

_"Attention all personnel, the red Tatzelwurm is loose in sector four, repeat; the red Tatzelwurm is loose in sector four."_

'_That's the voice from the island.'_ Lee thought seeing the cleaners back off and quickly used the key to open the door and after Tina retrieved her umbrella, they went outside where the other students headed.

"Surprise!"

Lee started at the noise and blinked.

"Happy Birthday party, Lee." Holger said taking a cake out of the package she'd seen earlier.

"A surprise birthday party? In the rain? Guess that fits." Lee said shrugging.

"Lighten up, you're always so serious." Her father said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Dad? Uh, hi, um, dad, how exactly did you-" Lee started, but the sound of footsteps interrupted her.

"Lynch Lemon!" Barrage yelled. "I don't know who pulled number three, but alarm number two was perpetrated by _you_, Lynch. And I got the proof."

"Impossible, I wore gloves." Lynch replied.

"These baby's can get glove prints." Barrage retorted.

"A rhinoceros beetles." Lynch said.

"I've got a special project for you, sorting filed student files, that should keep you busy for a long time." Victoria said as she led Lynch away.

"There was a lab in there I swear." Lee told Tina sincerely. "Sorry, we can do the interview now if you want."

"It's okay, just enjoy your birthday." Tina replied as she started walking away.

"Wait, have some…wet cake." Lee said as she stared at the plate of mush.

* * *

Lee furrowed her brows together at the photo of the picture she took from the tunnels when she heard the door open.

"Hey kiddo, did you have a good birthday?" her father asked.

"Not bad, thanks." Lee replied. "Uh, dad, I've been meaning to ask you; where was this taken?" she asked showing him the photo.

"Oh, it was taken in Korea, before we left, where did you find it?" Her father questioned.

"Wait, I thought I was born here?" Lee asked in confusion.

"Oh, you were, I mean we were just visiting." Her father replied as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"But how did you get back to my school today, Holger said he saw you underground, but that doesn't make any sense." Lee said.

"Oh, that, well, the truth is, under the city is an old abandoned subway line, and uh, well…sometimes when it rains, I use it, but don't tell your mother, she hates me," Her father said and Lee's head snapped up, "-doing dangerous stuff, and you tell your friend Holger to stay out of there, not safe; rats, mold, peanut shells, tunnel cave ins, it's just plain not a good place to be." He added as he walked back over to the door.

"Right, sure dad." Lee replied.

"Sweet dreams buddy, and happy birthday." Her father said before closing the door.

Lee laid back on her bed and furrowed her brows again. '_Dad knows way more than he's letting on; or maybe he doesn't? I don't know.'_ And there was the problem to this whole thing; there was a lot of things she didn't know. 


	11. Chapter 11

"Why so happy, Chica, you do know we're headed to school, right?" Cam questioned as Lee was smiling.

"My mom said if I get an A on today's math test that I could have the weekend free, do you know what that means?" she questioned back.

"You can do my chores for me on Saturday?" Cam asked hopefully.

"No, it means no grounding!" Lee retorted.

"Right, and that means you be spending the time with the boy you make the kissey with, yah?" Holger questioned.

Lee felt a flush rise on her cheeks before putting a finger to her lips. "Shhh, it's supposed to be a 'secret,' remember?" More like a secret from her _mother_, as the entire student body probably knew or at least suspected, but still. "And the best part though?" she questioned going back to happy again, "it's math, I own math."

"So, maybe you took a peak at the test, over scrambled wavos with mommy?" Cam questioned.

"Lee, this is much excitement, you're math skills are like me with the juggle of the random objects." Holger said and proceeded to demonstrate, or tried to as he only threw up a handful of things and let them rain down on angry passengers. "Wee, juggling, sorry." He apologized.

* * *

When they arrived at school, Lee made a disgusted face as she opened her locker and saw a pile of…something. "Gross," she said holding her nose and backed away, "what is that?"

Holger sniffed the air. "Ugh, smell like the fresh ziten berry, if a sniouzer was making the doodo on them."

"Ugh, dude, stink bomb, homes!" Cam exclaimed. "It looks like the work of a real pro, man."

"How can you tell?" Lee questioned.

"Cause it's all clever and stuff," Cam said pulling out a pie, "it's merengue bro, it _absorbs_ the smell." He finished and putting up to Lee's face.

The redhead pushed the pie away. "You sure seem to know a lot about this." She said and tried not to sound too suspicious.

"Hey, when your best friend is frame as the Ultimate Prankster, you sort of pick up a thing or two." Cam replied and elbowed Lee. "Hey, Tina." He said ahead of time as Tina approached.

"Ugh, what in the world is that smell?" Tina asked holding her nose.

Lee closed the door to her locker. "Apparently it's a stink bomb."

Tina looked excited. "Your newest prank backfire on you?"

Lee chuckled weakly. "Listen, I know these last few weeks have been kind of strange-"

"To say the least." Tina said crossing her arms.

"Yeah, but, I was guessing I could sorta try and make things up to you." Lee said scratching her head nervously. "Say Friday night?"

"Friday? Aren't you grounded 'til Armageddon or something?" Tina questioned.

"Technically yes I am, sorta, but I'm about to be sprung for the weekend." Lee replied and pumped her fist into the air. "Yeah, integers!"

Tina glanced around. "I don't know-"

"It could be fun, you could finally interview me, we could go to the big Patsy for Hire concert at the amphitheatre, or both, whatever you want." Lee suggested.

"I would have thought you'd want to go to that with your _boyfriend_?" Tina stressed.

Lee's face lit up. "That's a great idea! If you don't want to I can just take-"

Something that looked suspiciously like panic crossed over Tina's face. "No, wait, I think I will go with you," she said quickly with a nervous smile, "but I have to get to the news desk right now."

Lee nodded and as Tina left, Lee felt someone grab her by the collar and spin her to face them, revealing that it was Brandy. "Did I just see what I thought I saw? _You_ with another woman? With _that_ woman?"

"No, it's nothing like that, we were just talking." Lee replied and wondered why the other girl was getting so jealous, but then again she'd been acting strange ever since the factory field trip and she'd kissed Biff in public. Or had she'd been acting like this before and it was now just starting to get worse? "Like about Patsy for Hire."

Brandy gasped. "I knew it, there only like my sixth favorite band." She said and Lee raised a brow. "You were talking about taking _me_, don't worry, I'll totally act surprised when you come pick me up, mmwa!" she said and in a flash, Lee suddenly understood _why_ Brandy was acting like this…after she tried to kiss Lee on the cheek.

The other girl froze as she realized what she did. "You just tried-" Lee started as she held Brandy off, but Brandy cut her off.

"Because that's what BFF's do." Brandy said flippantly and turned to walk away.

Lee frowned to herself, feeling perplexed. She'd known Cam and Tina for most of her life and she'd never kissed _them_. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Why must everything be so difficult?" she suddenly saw small round things raining down and stepped back to avoid the bowling ball that almost crushed her foot. "Ah!" she exclaimed as Holger ran up. "_Seriously_?"

"Most of them weren't bowling balls." Holger said optimistically and chuckled nervously.

* * *

Lee swaggered into her math classroom with Cam and Holger following after her and she saw her mother staring at her suspiciously. "I ace this test and I am golden, and can have ungrounded fun." She said before sitting down in her seat.

"In whole weekend I can teach you to juggle the sardines," Holger offered, "the trick is not to eat them first. Holger always forget."

"Hey, you think I can borrow an answer or two?" Cam asked leaning on Lee's desk "It'd make my folks pretty happy to bring home solid C, man."

Lee shook her head. "Sorry, Cam, I can't just risk it today."

Cam started to make chicken sounds as Mrs. Ping started to hand out the tests and passed Cam's desk. Lee looked over the paper and started chuckling before her mother turned back around and shushed her so she didn't see that her pen was taken off her desk.

"Begin," Mrs. Ping said, "and no talking."

Lee looked down and her face was stricken with panic. "My pen. Hey," she called quietly to Cam, "have you seen my pen? Anybody got an extra pen?"

"Quiet." Her mother said before going back to her book.

"Pssh, here you go, bro." Cam said handing Lee a pen.

"Thanks buddy." Lee replied and started writing down the answers, only stopping when the time was up and walked over to her mother's desk. "You and dad should make plans this weekend, 'cause this girl's gonna be _out of the house_." She said before moving over to the door.

Barely after leaving, Lee was on the phone and confirming her order. "Yeah, four tickets…perfect." She said before putting her phone back in her pocket. "Now if I can just find someone to take Brandy, I'll be totally golden-"

Lee flinched as her mother opened the door angrily. "What is the meaning of this?" she questioned holding up the test paper. "I thought with a reward you would finally take something seriously."

"But I did, that's why I studied so hard." Lee replied.

"Then explain _this_." Her mother said showing her the other side of the paper.

"That's just a blank paper." Lee said.

"It's you test." Her mother retorted and pointed a finger at her.

"It can't be, I finished it." Lee said in disbelief. "Even the bonus trick question, the answer is zero, right?"

"Yes, just like your grade." Her mother snapped and Lee slapped her head.

"But…but…how…" Lee trailed off. "My pen! Someone must have handed me one with invisible ink or something!"

"Invisible ink?" Her mother repeated and rolled her eyes. "_Please_, you can kiss your free weekend goodbye, missy." She said before walking back into the class.

Lee started to glower as Cam and Holger walked out. "Dude, you gave me a joke pen."

"Dude, someone passed it to me." Cam replied.

"_Dude,_ who?" Lee questioned.

_"DUDE_, I don't know, maybe someone is gunning for you, dude." Cam replied.

"Uh, fellow dudes." Holger said pointing over to a locker and there was graffiti on it.

"Down With Leigh Club?" Lee read aloud.

"Maybe it's a typo, maybe they mean Down With _Glee_ Club." Cam said.

"How could anyone not like Glee club?" Holger questioned. "They're always so happy."

Lee frowned at the typo she _did_ spot. "It's a typo alright, but it's my _name_ they got wrong, it's spelled L-E-E, not that way." She said jerking her head at the locker before finding something else more worrying. "And has this been what's going on? Who hates me so they start a whole club? And not even a grammatically correct one?"

* * *

"Maybe it's another Lee," Biffy said after Lee relayed what she'd found out and held Mrs. Rumple in his hands, "there's more than one Lee in the world, isn't here?"

"No, whoever it was spelled it the 'girl' way it's supposed to be spelled, so they clearly don't realize that it's the _other_ way." Lee mused before holding up her phone. "Maybe it's Radcircles, this could be another chance to nail whoever it is."

"Nah, RC's hard core, it's probably just a bunch of nerds wearing nerd clothes and doing nerd things together and talk in nerd code." Biff replied. "I'd start with the nerdy tree house in the back of this nerdy school."

"Why there?" Lee questioned.

"It's Ed the Water boy's house, and my guess is if you looked up nerd in the dictionary you'd find a picture of his grandfather." Biff explained. "And he hates you, right?"

"More Holger for stealing his job, but yeah, I did out him as the school thief." Lee replied.

"Okay," Biff said as he pulled a sweater over Mrs. Rumple, "so get messor Rumpel as close to the tree house so I can see what's inside." He continued and put a mini camera on the sweater.

Lee was handed Mrs. Rumple and blushed as the other teen's hand lingered on hers before she snuck out of the room and put her ear bud in.

* * *

Lee hung down behind the fence as she lifted Mrs. Rumple up and the cat went along the fence. "I'm sending in the cat." She said and watched her go into the tree house, soon after hearing a commotion in the tree house that sent Mrs. Rumple climbing back out of the tree and Lee saw Irwin at the entrance of the tree house just as the cat came to stop on her head.

"Lee Ping! And she's not in detention!" he shouted.

"Principal Barrage!" Robin yelled and waved over the cyborg principal walking through the parking lot.

Lee gasped and ran, the cat accidently falling from her head as she made her way through the bushes and felt her getting nicked by the twigs and soon came back to the vent system that lead her outside before crawling through them again and kicked the grate off before jumping down into her seat just as the door slammed opened.

"Ah hah!"

"So technically the bussinteen empire is just a derivative of the Roman-"

"Eh, well, carry on." Barrage said. "But I'm watching you, and I'm using these flippy flaps of fleshly flesh on the side of my head that some people refer to as ears! And I will _hear_ every gurgle of your gooey little guts! So watch your B's and Q's. At ease!" he shouted ad slammed the door shut.

"Ahem." Biff coughed and the door opened suddenly.

"I heard that!" Barrage yelled.

"Uhhh…" Barrage made the 'I'm watching you' sign and slammed the door shut.

Lee let the book she was 'studying' fall to the desk and sighed.

"So anyways," Biff began and Lee turned in her seat as he presented her with his laptop, "see who makes up the Down With Lee Club."

"How'd you know the club was at Ed's house anyway?" Lee asked suspiciously even though she _didn't_ want to suspect he might have anything to do with this.

"Don't get all paranoid." Biff retorted. "There's a Down With Lee Club okay? Right now you sorta need all the friends you can get."

Lee grimaced. "You're right, but, you're not just my right?"

Biff rolled his eyes. "We kissed, several times, one of which was in public, in front of our class, what do you think?"

Lee grinned slightly as she grabbed him by the collar and brought him down to her level. "I'll show you what I think." She said proceeded to do just that.

* * *

"Hey Lee!" The redhead looked up as Tina came over with headphones on. "I've been listening to Patsy for Hire all day, they're actually kinda okay."

Lee winced and rubbed her hands nervously together. "Oh, yeah, they're pretty cool."

"Anyway, we still on for the concert?" Tina asked.

Lee winced again. "Listen, Tina, about that…" she trailed off softly, but Tina took the buds of her ears and glared at her.

"You don't need to finish that sentence; I know where this is going, and here's where I'm going." She said turning on her heel and moving in the other direction.

Lee sighed heavily again before moving onto her next class.

* * *

"Did you in juggling you're supposed to make the catch with the balls?" Holger questioned as he and Cam were running down the track during gym.

"Uh, _yeah_." Cam retorted.

Lee picked up her pace so she was just behind them. "Guys, I need one of you to infiltrate that Down With Lee Club. I already ordered four Patsy tickets, so whoever does it can have them. We'll stage a fight and pretend we've turned on each other. Come on, who's with me?"

"Free tickets? Sure, I'll turn on you." Cam said.

"Holger can take Greta to concert and make up for lunch time uh oh spaghetti unpleasantness. I can be better than Cam and run faster. See!" Holger yelled and sped up down the track.

"Daddy-long-legs, I can bring the pain like nobodies business man," Cam said and paused, "I don't like the way Lee opens her stupid little yogurt snacks."

"Well I hate her hair." Holger said.

"I don't like her stinky breath, dude." Cam shot back.

"I hate her…hair." Holger retorted again.

"Yeah, and I'm really like not a fan of her knees, knobby much?" Cam shouted.

"I…hate her hair!" Holger said and sped up more.

Cam stopped on the track and Lee, who'd been getting steadily angrier, stopped as well. "Hold up, Essay, A) my smallish legs need a break and B) if Ed's like in the club, Holger can't even join anyway. Dude don't like you bro."

Holger gasped in horror. "Don't like _me_? Impossible! Everyone loves Holger, I love Holger! I love him so much!"

"Guys, seriously, what's wrong with my hair?" Lee questioned flattening down her bangs.

* * *

Lee spotted the club just down the hall and she smirked at Cam. "Let's make this look legit."

Cam nodded slightly before speaking. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, step off bro, you better watch who you talking too."

"I know it was you who switched my pen!" Lee shouted and pushed Cam against the locker.

The other teen tried to tackle her, but Lee held him back by his head and tried to reach for her instead. "Oh, I wouldn't go throwing accusations around, Essay, you're the prankster who leads a secret life."

"Oh yeah, you want a piece?" Lee shot back and dropped to the floor while pulling Cam into a headlock and she was really feeling embarrassed for rolling on the floor.

"Lee, Cam," Brandy said as she appeared in the front of them, "are you fighting over Lee's strange tendencies?"

Cam looked down at her and he genuinely looked apologetic for what the 'argument' was now changing to and Lee pushed Cam off the ground as she still held a firm grip on his collar. "And what's with how you dress? Confused much!"

Lee scowled at him. "Just because I _dress_ like a tomboy doesn't mean I _am_ one!"

"You got that right, 'cause why else would you not complain about being the only girl in a _boy's_ gym class?" Cam shot back.

Lee saw some of the shocked looks on the faces of some of the girl's, including Brandy. "Well it's not _my_ fault the school got it mixed up, and besides, it's not like I hear anyone _else _complaining!" she really didn't get that, but she honestly wasn't going to complain about it. "And at least I _can_ get a date!"

"You call those times in detention with Biffy a _date?_" Cam scoffed.

"That's supposed to be a _secret_." Lee hissed.

"Ya, a secret everybody _knows_." Cam shot back while leaving about the part where Lee was trying to keep this from her mother specifically. "And you want to know what _else_ everybody now knows?" Cam asked shoving Lee away from him. "Down With Lee! Down With Lee!" he chanted as he moved into the crowd.

Lee watched him leave with a frown on her face for show, but inside she was smirking.

* * *

"So Cam managed to infiltrate them?"

Lee was insulted by Biff's surprised tone, but brushed it off. "Shh, he's in there right now!" she said and put the device to ear to listen in on the meeting taking place.

_"Let us welcome Camilio Esmeraldo Martinez to the club!" _she heard Irwin's voice say and everyone else said 'Welcome Cam.'

_"So, that stink bomb was pretty cool,_" Cam began, "_that lemon merengue pie was like a _boom_ idea!"_

_"My mom made it."_ Ed said.

_"That disappearing ink was like rad too, but that can't be it, can it, you know like what's the real plan, how we gonna take down my girl-I-I m-m-mean my _ex_ girl, Lee Ping?"_ Cam asked and Lee brushed off his almost slip with a shrug, thinking nothing of it so long as the 'Club' members didn't.

"_Tomorrow at lunch we're gonna nail Ping with three pranks at once."_ Irwin started.

"_First we pour acid on the football field to spell out 'Ping Rules.'"_ Emo Jo added,

"_Then we're gonna flood the parking lot with shaving cream and soap suds." _Ed continued. _"Making a mess of all the faculty's cars to get her outside so they'll see the field."_

_"And then, when the room is empty, we're going to fill the teacher's lounge with raw sewage from the septic tank."_ Robin added.

"_And, the best part is, Lee will be blamed for it all and be kicked out of school for good!"_ Irwin exclaimed.

"Dude, you're totally gonna be one step ahead of them." Biff pointed out and Lee grinned.

"Three steps actually." She chuckled before writing out what was said down on paper. "Yeah, nice try Irwin." She then turned in her seat to look up at her 'un official' boyfriend.' "So, you up for some making out until Barrage comes to let us out?"

* * *

"Holger, how goes the football field?" Lee asked from her spot in behind some pipes in the hall.

"_No acid yet. And what does acid look like, how tall is he?"_ Holger questioned.

"Oh boy." Lee said slapping her forehead before switching to Cam. "Cam, how's the parking lot?"

"_Nothing yet homes."_ Cam replied.

"Yeah, same here." Lee said before frowning. "It's pretty weird that nothing's happened yet." She said before hearing her phone ring and took it out of her pocket.

_"Uh, Pingston, we have a problem, I finally managed to break the security wall on the school files and seems Irwin's been messing with your locker."_ Biff replied with a growl.

Lee raised a brow. "Locker?" she repeated before the freak out started. _'He was touching my stuff?!'_ she thought before shaking her head. "That wasn't part of the plan…" she said in slow realization.

_"Yeah, you've been duped."_ Biff replied.

"Guys, it's a trick." Lee said over the walkie-talkies. "Holger, you're the closest, get to my locker."

_"Okay." _Holger said before there was a pause before suddenly screamed.

"_Aw dude, my ear!"_ Cam shouted.

"Holger, what is it?" Lee questioned.

"_Barrage's metal big stick."_ Holger whispered and Lee heard the off yell from their principal and Holger scream again. "_B-B-B-Baragge's leg!"_

_"What the what?" _Cam said in surprise.

"In my locker?!" Lee exclaimed before hearing Barrage's voice on the talky.

_"Whoever's got my leg is gonna burn in a fiery pit of preposterous pain." _He growled and Holger let out a startled yelp.

"No Holger, just drop it before he sees you!" Lee shouted.

There was no sound other than the speaker overhead and soon enough Holger started speaking again.

"_Okay, the Barrage is gone, but the doorknob can't makes the open time now, I'm trapped in the custodial alcove." _He said.

"Cam, you've got to get to the custodial alco-the _janitor's_ closet and spring Holger." Lee instructed.

_"I'm on it."_ Cam replied.

After hearing Cam hit a snag, Lee moved out of her hiding place and ran to the janitor's closet herself through the air vents. "Holger, it's me."

"Viking Santa? Have you finally come to put sheep in my pillow case?" Holger questioned.

Lee pushed the grate off. "No dummy, it's me." She snapped.

"Lee Ping, _you_ are the Viking Santa?" Holger asked in surprise.

Lee rolled her eyes. "Yes, ho ho ho, now give me your hand." She said reaching down, put instead found herself _pulled down _instead and they barreled through the door.

"You did, we're free." Holger said. "You really are the Viking Santa, may I have the electrical toothbrush too with the fishy inside?"

_"Dude! T-minus 2 minutes."_ Biff said over the ear bud frequency.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you want, just get out of here." Lee said grabbing the metal leg. "I'll handle this." She was in for a shock though as Holger actually hugged her.

"You are the bravest person I've ever met, except for Leaf Gurgen who dove fast first into a fleshagan." Holger said and Lee took off down the hall.

_"You better get rid of that thing, if you get caught with you're going be to totally expelled." _Biff said.

"What's worse than being expelled?" Lee asked hiding behind the lockers to avoid the cleaners and Barrage.

"I will _pulverize _whoever stole my leg!" Barrage yelled and Lee paled.

"Oh, forget I ever asked that." She said and cringed as she noticed the shadows draw nearer.

"For the enjoyment," she heard Holger say, "I present the amazing Holger!" he said and she heard the clattering of something on the ground.

Lee glanced around the side to see the cleaners all having tripped on the balls before dropping the metal leg down and jumped up to the grab onto the locker and pulled herself up before sliding into the vent. She crawled through at an even faster pace.

_"Hurry! Come on, come on!"_

Lee wanted to snap at Biff that she was moving as quick as she could, but that wouldn't help matters and dropped into her seat just as the door slammed open.

"So you see, if both sides of a triangle-" Biff started as Lee looked back at him to make it more believable.

"When I find who tried to make a fool out of me, they'll be keeping you company, all snuggly and warm, in here!" Barrage shouted. "Dismissed!"

Both the teens moved out of the room and Lee bid her boyfriend a farewell until she came across the tail of Irwin saying, "we've only begun."

Lee gritted her teeth before marching up to them and grabbing Irwin by the collar, she shut him up against the lockers behind him. "You're ruining my whole life!" she snapped. "All because of the Math club grudge?!"

Lee felt herself get pulled away by the shoulders as Robin started talking. "Actually, it's 'cause you got us detention with your pranks."

Lee blinked. "Oh, sorry," she said brushing the hands off her shoulders, "I didn't mean too, is that really why you all hate me?"

"Mhmm." Emo Joe said.

"Pretty much." Robin said also.

"And Holger!" Ed shouted.

"You better watch your back Ping!" Irwin warned.

"Or what?" Lee shot back. "You'll prank me again? Well I'm pretty much as low as I'm gonna get."

"It's not us you need to worry about." Ed replied.

"Yeah, we're nothing compared to else is out there. Some freak who loves knock-knock jokes." Irwin said.

"Knock-knock jokes?" Lee questioned before realizing what he meant. "You guys have met Radcircles?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Irwin replied. "Why should we tell you?"

"After all, helping you would be a violation of our club." Robin said before they all started chanting 'down with Lee' as they walked away.

"Aw man, how will I ever figure out who Radcircles is?" Lee said to herself.

* * *

"Nope, nope," Lee said crossing out the pictures in her yearbook as she tried to narrow down Radcircles identity, "a bit of a jerk, but nope."

Her computer screen split and Cam appeared. "Hey bro, thanks again for the tickets man."

"You really should have come Lee, this time there's _girls_." Holger said excitedly.

Lee privately rolled her eyes. "It's cool guys, I really only wanted to go with Tina or Biffy anyway. Later." She said turning her computer off and her phone went off.

"Ah ha! Here we go." She to herself as she read the message aloud. "You survived this time, _barely_, but you'll never make it to the end of the year. P.S, knock knock?"

Lee heard knocking at her door and she froze. "Uh, who's there?" her mother opened the door. "Oh, hey mom."

"Lights out." Her mother said before turning off the lights.

Lee moved over to her bed. "So people have actually _talked_ to him, but not seen him," Mindful of her own previously assumed ambiguous gender, she amended that, "or even it's a _he_. All I know is Radcircles, is that I'm gonna find you."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Good morning A. Nigma High, I'm-"

"I'm Chaz Monoranian and I am still awesome," Chaz said interrupting Tina, "and this is your morning news."

Lee glanced over at Holger's pen and let out a chuckle. "Holger, could you find a bigger pen?"

"Jah, always." Holger replied and showed her a bigger pen.

"Dude, I was kidding." Lee replied.

"Today's top story-" Tina started, only for Chaz to cut her off again.

"-Is that the big special report you won't wanna miss is only two days away, that's Friday!" he exclaimed. "Live, on Chaz's Corner! Don't miss it. Ah!" he shouted as Tina held up a lock of blonde hair.

"Are hair extensions harmless accessories for your head?" Tina began as a picture of a clump of hair extensions were shown in the pool drain before showing Brad getting caught in it. "Fake hair nearly drowned Brad Von Chillstein."

"Glug, glug, glug, I'm drowning. Gee, nice photo op, Tina." Chaz said sarcastically as the next picture showed Tina saving Brad. "Yawn, so how do we stop this tidal wave of wig weaponry?"

"Mandatory bathing caps and exposing the students who use wig weapons-I mean; hair extensions." Tina replied and a picture of Brandy, Kimmie, Mackenzie and Drusilla, the other two Glamazons appeared next, all with short hair.

A loud chorus of horrified screams rang out in the school and Lee glanced over as Holger's pens exploded.

"Who knows tiny doll CPR?" Holger used the male doll and made his voice go deeper. "I do, stand aside chums, lifeguard Svel will save the day." He said making the dolls kiss. "Oh," he said in a higher voice, "my hero holkin, oh, you're so strong and svinny."

Lee stared with wide eyes before awkwardly looking away from the scene. _'Oh, this is awkward._'

* * *

Lee walked down the hall after they were let out and slowed her walk when she saw Brad walking away from Brandy and the Glamazons.

"Lee Ping! Did you _see_ that news report?" Brandy questioned.

"Yeah, I, uh…" Lee rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

"You can't even look at me." Brandy said covering her face. "You think I'm a monster! Oh, your _friend_, Tina is so getting it." She said darkly. "That's not how I normally look, I dyed my hair myself recently, and…it all fell out. Okay, obviously, the only way to get out of this mucho mega trauma; is with a …shopping spree!" she exclaimed and grabbed Lee's arm. "Ad you have to come."

"Oh, that would be special, but you know, detention." Lee reminded her.

"Sometimes I feel like the only reason that Biffy guy gets detention is so he can be around you!" Brandy said darkly and Lee's eyes widened at her tone. "But oh well." She said as her attitude took a 180. "I guess you'll also have to miss the…revenge spree! Oh look, the moving target herself."

Lee looked back and saw Tina go by at the end of the hall and excused herself. "My class too, gotta go, bye." She said hurrying down the hall and during chemistry, Lee looked worriedly at Tina through the protective glasses as she and Cam worked on the teacher's project.

"Man, if you keep staring at Tina, she's gonna get freaked out, Chica." Cam pointed out.

"I gotta warn her about Brandy's maybe, probably, evil revenge plan." Lee said before walking over to Tina's desk but stopped as Brad went in front of her and leaned on the desk.

"Tina Kwee, thanks for saving me yesterday, trying to breathe underwater sucks, but I'd love to make it up to you, how about a trip to the mall after school aprec moi?" he asked as the bell rang.

"Uh, may wi." Tina replied smiling nervously as Lee blinked and heard a small explosion before a blob of _something_ hit her and glared over at the completely covered Cam and took the cloth he gave her. "Thanks." She said sarcastically before wiping the gunk away.

"No problemo!" Cam called after her.

* * *

"Lee!" Holger exclaimed hugging Lee as she walked down the hall. "Lee, why your face long like pony?"

"'Cause now Lee's gotta follow Tina on her date to keep Brandy from getting back at her on her date with Brad." Cam said throwing one arm over Lee's shoulder.

"Brad the chill Von Chillstein?" Holger repeated.

"I know; he's so cool his mom's a fridge." Cam said.

"And his dad is Ace Von Chillstein, the action hero movie star." Holger said and started to let out 'action' sounds. "Awesome to the wohoo yeah?"

"Oh yeah, he's pretty much cooler than every guy in this school." Lee deadpanned.

"Even your kissy friend?" Holger asked teasingly and Lee remained silent with a grimace on her face.

"Bro, please, this is _high school_," Cam said throwing an arm around Lee's shoulder, "Brad's don't date Tina's, Brad's date college girls, supermodels and Glamazons."

Lee blinked before narrowing her eyes. "Your right, something stinks." She said thoughtfully.

Holger sniffed himself before falling to the floor with a groan and both Cam and Lee stared at him, but Lee's gaze drew over to the end of the hall where she saw Brandy hand a note to Brad and Lee gasped.

"Ha, I knew, Brad is in on it. They're going to do something at the mall." She said and looked at her friends. "I have detention, can you guys go?"

Cam held up his hands. "No can do home slice, I got devil-sitting duty; my evil sister."

"Holger has the water boy practice." Holger said. "Did you know if you freeze water it'd be making the ice?"

"You sure you wanna protect Tina bro, or are you just jealous?" Cam asked.

Lee's expression deadpanned again. "Why would I be jealous? I really do just want to protect Tina from whatever Brandy's up to." She replied. "But either way I gotta warn her." She said sprinting down the hall and down the stairs. "Hey Tina, wait up." She said stopping in front of her friend. "Brandy's pretty ticked about your hair expose, I think they're planning something."

"So? I'm not scared of Brandy." Tina replied.

Lee rubbed the back of her head. "I'd just be suspicious of unusual things, like say, something you never ever thought would happen in a million year? Like a really hot guy asking you on a date to the mall?"

Tina stared at her suspiciously. "What are you saying?"

"That Brad asked you out so Brandy could humiliate you at the mall." Lee replied evenly.

"Ohhh, so a cool guy like Brad wouldn't date someone like me unless it was a cruel _joke_?" Tina asked angrily before walking past Lee.

Lee grimaced to herself. "That sounded way worse coming out of her mouth."

* * *

Lee paced around the desks, the only sound coming from Biff's app as she tried to think.

"Relax man, you're totally throwing off my couch-ninja winning streak." Biff said and Lee stopped pacing.

"I can't, I'm worried about Tina." She replied.

"Don't we always figure out a way for you to escape detention?" Biff asked nonchalantly.

Lee blinked before smiling. "Yeah, you're right." She said walking over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "We're the dream team, we'll wait for Barrage and it'll be just like every time." She said leaning up, but jumped back as the door slammed open.

"You maggots got more lady company." Barrage said as Kimmie walked in.

"Sup, losers?" she said. "And don't answer that, 'cause I don't care."

"I'll be back in 16:15, as I have off-campus business to attend to." Barrage said. "In case of any funny business, two hazmats are posted right outside your door!" he said before slamming the door shut.

"So who decorated this place, a color blind monkey?" Kimmie questioned.

"Ha! All monkeys are color blind." Biff retorted.

"Just because you are, doesn't mean your cousins are too." Kimmie returned and snapped her fingers. "Oh snap."

Lee started to feel uneasy before gesturing for Biff to follow her to the front of the room. "Okay, how am I gonna escape with Lady McBlabber watching us?"

"Escape?" Biff repeated. "Dude, you cannot leave me here with _that_." He said looking back at Kimmie.

Lee was also reluctant to leave him with Kimmie, but she'd have to stuff her unease down and offered a deal. "I'll get Cyrus to record some Dudes of Darkness tracks."

Biff let out a frustrated sigh. "You know I can't resist DOD bribes."

Lee knew what she was about to do next was gonna be extremely embarrassing. "Ohh, my stomach, cramps!" she moaned.

"FYI, I don't need the 411 on your monthly troubles." Kimmie said sharply.

Lee flushed and Biff walked over to the desk Kimmie was at. "So, how'd you score a detention? Your shoes not match your bag?"

Kimmie laughed mockingly. "So funny I forgot to laugh." She said as Lee made her way up into the vent and forced herself to give Biff a thumbs up.

Lee felt her muscles tense as she tried to squash her ridiculous jealously starting to rise. She didn't do jealous, so why was it so hard to not think her boyfriend and Kimmie had some kind of history? She kept her focus on getting out of the school than on anything else at the moment and only took out her cell and called Cam's number when she was safely out of school and on the bus.

"…escaping out of school _and_ detention? Dude, hard core." He said before his voice rose angrily. "Angelina! Do not microwave the goldfish!" he shouted and Lee raised a brow in bewilderment before his voice went calm again. "Seriously though, saving Tina's going to score you major brownie points."

"It's not about that, I really-" Lee was cut off by Cam yelling at his sister again.

"Hey! That is not a toy! It's-" The sound of crashing came out over the phone. "Well, it's garbage now. So what kind of super spy stuff did you do to fool Barrage homes?"

"That's the best part, he had to leave school for some reason!" Lee replied, but stopped as she glanced out the window and gasped at seeing Barrage's car right there and ducked below the window and hit the end button on her cell.

* * *

Lee walked along the upper floor of the mall as she looked around for Tina and Brad, but finding no such luck, she sighed in frustration and dialed Cam's number again. "Cam, still no sigh of Tina and Brad yet-uh oh." She said and spotted Brandy, feeling momentarily stupid. "I forgot about her." She grumbled and hit the end button.

Lee moved behind the corner and narrowed her eyes as Brandy reached into the bag. "This will teach her a lesson." She said pulling out a bottle with a scull and crossbones on it."

"Poison? Really?" Lee questioned to herself but pulled back as Brandy looked her way.

"Red streaks?" Brandy said and Lee cursed silently as she hurriedly sprinted down the hall. "Lee Ping, is that you?"

Lee turned the corner and headed into a bag store and glanced at the entrance as Brandy ran by. She let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

"Lee Ping, in my store, wow." Another voice drawled and Lee glanced over at Emo Joe behind the counter reading a newspaper. "This must be my lucky day." He added sarcastically.

"Oh hey Joe." Lee replied rolling her eyes. "How's that Down With Lee Club coming, finally get the spelling right?" she asked sarcastically and kept herself out of sight when Brandy walked by again.

"It's Giuseppe and good." Joe replied tersely.

Lee blinked as she saw the backpack rack beside her and reached out for a red one. "Whoa, this looks just like my bag."

"These, are the limited edition Carl Von Wurst bags, the only place in the city that has them." Joe explained.

Lee thought she should know why the name Wurst was familiar, but she pushed it to the back of her mind as she found a more prominent clue. "Who bought the other ones?"

"People's faces are interchangeable, that's a line from a poem I'm writing." Joe replied.

"Okay, what about security videos?" Lee questioned.

"Can you leave now, I have to do my job and I really don't like you." Joe said.

Lee pushed herself back against the wall as she spotted Tina and Brad coming down the hall. She followed them at her leisure and called up Holger. "Holg, I need to come to the Bag store in the mall and get the security taps to find out who else bought my knapsack." She rolled her eyes. "Emo Joe won't give 'em to me."

"Holger do for help of friendship." Holger said and started to make a strange siren sound.

Lee raised a brow before the line was cut off and she sighed in frustration. "Great, another call."

_"That, is a pretty swell knapsack."_ A mechanized voice said.

Lee's eyes widened. "Who is this?"

"_You mean you can't the tell the voice of your new best friend? Maybe I should have started with a knock knock." _

Lee's jaw dropped. "Radcircles?"

"_Bingo. At the mall when you should be in detention? Tsk tsk, I hope someone doesn't tell Barrage."_

Lee looked around. "Where are you, how can you see me?" she questioned, but just got the dial tone. "Hello? Hello?" _'Okay, this is really starting to freak me out. I wish I knew who this was so I could get a restraining order._' She thought before putting her cell phone away and hurried after Tina, finding them near a fountain, but the coin Brad tossed missed the water and instead hit her in the head.

"Ow." She groaned and rubbed her scalp as Tina walked over with Brad.

"What are you doing here?" Tina asked dully.

"Brad, Tina, what a coincidence." Lee said grinning nervously.

Tina crossed her arms. "It's not a coincidence if you knew we'd be here."

Lee grabbed a hold of Tina's wrist. "Do you mind if I steal Tina for a sec?" she asked Brad. "I have an urgent…uh…" she paused for a moment to think of something. "Bathing cap questioned." She said lamely.

"Aw, sure man, if you need to talk water safety, she's your gal." Brad said and Tina chuckled nervously.

Lee pulled Tina away before the other girl tugged her hand free, her voice in a furious whisper. "You're ruining my date. No way, _I_ have a date." She said cheerily. "Tina Kwee you go girl." She said to herself.

"Yeah, about that, I saw Brandy pass him a note in the hall, and-" Lee began, but Tina cut her off.

"A note?" Tina gasped. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I tried but-" Lee was once again but off Tina.

"I certainly hope you told the cops there's some note passing hooligans on the loose." Tina said crossing her arms. "I don't need you to protect me from Brad, okay?" she questioned before her tone softened. "And besides, don't you alright _have_ a boyfriend?"

Lee's eyes widened at the implication. "I'm not jealous of you," she said evenly and more importantly, _truthfully_, "and I really am just looking out for you. You're my best friend after all, Tina, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Long-suffer without me." Tina retorted, but there was a small smile on her face before she turned on her heel and walked away.

Lee shook her head as she too started to walk into the other direction before stopping as she saw Barrage standing in front of a pillar. She gasped and ducked behind a plant. "Barrage, what's he up to?" she asked herself.

"Sure it's Ping?" Barrage questioned.

Lee narrowed her eyes. "That's my name."

Barrage tapped his wrist as he held out a briefcase and handed it to someone that was obscured by the pillar. "All taken care of, don't-"

"Don't what?" Lee questioned to herself as she went over the plant. "Don't kill her, don't feed her cafeteria meatloaf?" she tripped over the plant and face planted.

"Ping!" Barrage yelled and Lee looked up in terror as he walked over. Lee quickly snuck out of sight behind a conveniently passing group and hid behind a pillar. "Out of detention?" Barrage continued as he pulled the red streaks up, only to find it was a flower.

Lee let out a silent gasp of relief. That was _way_ too close for comfort. She snuck down the hall and ducked into a clothing store as she heard her cell ring.

"_Lee, it's Holger from school."_ Holger said and Lee rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, how it's going in the bag store?" Lee asked.

"Not so goodie." Holger replied.

"You just need Emo Joe out of there for a sec," Lee said as she thought of someone that would _probably_ help her, "hold on." She added before looking through her phone listings and speed dialed. "Zed, if you're anywhere near the mall, I could use a favor." While she didn't like using that word, as a favor implied giving something _in return_, she needed help.

* * *

Lee peered around the pillar and looked past the green apple splat frog suited guy and at both Tina and Brad drinking down at a table from the same drink. She couldn't see what they were saying, but Brad took out a camera and Tina stood off to the side, but Lee gasped when she saw Brandy and the other Glamazons walking up to the rail with the bottle Lee had seen earlier.

She saw Brandy stand above where Tina was and Lee narrowed her eyes. "I knew it!" she hissed, but slumped her shoulders when Barrage came into sight. "Aw man." She said and looked over at the mascot before grabbed the head and putting it on her own and swung down to Tina from a vine, knocking the girl out of the way.

Lee felt the mascot head fall off her and she saw the stuff in the bottle splash over Brad's head as he walked over, but when she looked up, Brandy was gone.

Tina got up and walked over to Brad. "Wow, Brandy was right about you." Brad said crossing his arms.

"What are you talking about?" Tina asked in confusion.

"Your little pow wow with Lee, your plan was too humiliate me, just like you did the Glamazons." Brad replied and Lee started to feel a sense of dread come over her.

"Brad, that's not true." Tina said and Lee got up as she walked over.

"That didn't turn out like I thought." She said and Tina whirled on her as Brad left.

"I told you to stay out of this." Tina said.

Lee looked down chastised. "Sorry, I thought he was shallow 'cause he's popular, but I was wrong, he, obviously really likes you. I get it 'cause I feel the same way about-" she looked up and her eyes widened. "Four o'clock? I gotta get back to detention before Barrage!"

"Well h's headed toward the parking lot now." Tina said pointing over to the exit. Lee gasped as Tina said sarcastically, "Why don't you go ask him for a ride?"

Lee ran out of the exit toward the bus stop. "Wait, don't leave." She said, but her voice was muffled by the mascot head.

"Give me back my helmet!"

Lee blinked and ditched the helmet. "Sorry." She said letting the helmet fall back to the mascot and tried to pick up her speed, but only got a face full of fumes. "I'm a dead woman." She said in defeat.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lee looked up and her eyes went wide as a 15th grader pulled up and she cringed back as he put a hand to her shoulder. "In such a hurry?"

Lee peered at him cautiously. "Are you going to kill me now or later? 'Cause now's better for my schedule."

"Kill you?" The 15th grader repeated and laughed. "Thank you is more like it. 'Cause of you, I'm following my dream and going to clown school!" he exclaimed and put a clown hat on his head. "Pretty clowny huh?"

"The clownest." Lee replied. "So, wanna repay the favor?" she asked and soon they were both riding back to school, but Lee kept her head turned as she tried to call Biff, only to get no answer, so she tried again. "Come on Biffy, pick up." She said and her thoughts were starting to turn paranoid.

Huh, maybe she was the jealous type.

Lee jumped off the motorcycle and tossed the helmet back as they arrived in the school parking lot and she took off for the detention room. She kept back at the corner as she saw the cleaner on a ladder and dialed the number of her boyfriend again, this time he picked up.

"_Yello?"_

Lee felt her temper rise. "Yello?" she repeated incredulously. "Where have you been?"

_"Uh, right here, stuck with Kimmie, remember?"_ Biff asked.

Lee gritted her teeth at the reminder. "I'm in need of a major Barrage distraction, got anything?"

"_Gotcha covered."_ Biff replied. _"Head to detention and wait for my cue."_

"What cue?" Lee asked but received no answer, but did as she was told and saw that the room was still guarded, biting her lip as Barrage opened the door only for a little doggy to come running out.

"What in the Sam Heck and sweet little mother cubbert!" Barrage yelled.

"That's gotta be my cue." Lee said keeping herself against the pop machine as Barrage and the cleaners guarding the door came running by her.

"After that canine vermin." Barrage yelled.

Lee made her way into the detention room and sighed as she sat down, only freezing as the door slammed open and she remembered that _Kimmie_ was still there.

The blonde stood up and crossed her arms. "I want to say something on record." She said and Lee froze even more if it was possible and held her breath. "I will never, ever, do anything again that will make me spend another second with these losers!"

"Lesson learned, dismissed!" Barrage yelled and Kimmie walked over to the door, but not before making the 'call me sign' at Biff.

Lee felt her eye tick as she turned her accusing eyes to Biff as Barrage left. "What…?" she tried to ask before the other teen leaned down to kiss her. Lee felt the pleasant light-headed feeling she'd come to associate with it come over her too.

"Nothing happened," Biff said seriously, "do you really think I'd cheat on you with _Kimmie?_ I'm almost insulted."

Lee narrowed her eyes momentarily before shaking her head. "I guess I was just being ridiculous. But, come here." She said and pulled the other teen down for another kiss.

She _was_ being ridiculous wasn't she? It wasn't like Biff got jealous of the guys _she_ hung around so she shouldn't get jealous either.

* * *

"Tina hates me, I think I might've ruined our friendship." Lee groaned to her friends on the web cam.

"Yeah, pretty much." Cam said and was hit with something. "What the, Angelina!" he shouted to his sister off screen and turned off his own camera.

"So Holg, have you figured out who got the same knapsack as me?" Lee asked. "Whoever it is could be Radcircles."

"Still watchy, so many tapes!" Holger cried. "They make my eyes go, oohh, ohhh."

"Thanks buddy." Lee said appreciatively. "Just let me know if you find anything."

"Okay, nighty, night." Holger said turning his own screen off and Lee walked over to her after shutting her computer off.

Lee laid on her side as she frowned to herself. "Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?" she shook her head and closed her eyes.

It wouldn't be good to dwell on such things right now.

* * *

**A/N: For my fans, I have a special surprise planned for the season finale episode, and while I won't say what, you're gonna hate me for it.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Lee, you're going to be late!" Lee heard her mother call through the door and the redhead grabbed her knapsack after mussing up her hair.

_'So, Radcircles, you've managed to avoid me up 'til now, but I know you've been spying on me all this time, and I also know that I learn your identity, I'll figure out everything.'_ Lee thought as she shouldered her bag, a look of grim determination crossing her face. '_So today, I'm finding out who you are.'_

* * *

"You okay Holg?" Lee questioned as she saw Holger's tired pose on the bus.

"Yeah, mega tired, just stayed up overnight watching scary movie." Holger replied.

"But you also watched the store surveillance tapes, right?" Lee asked.

"Mmm, hmm." Holger hummed.

"So, anyone buy the same bag as mine?" Lee questioned as she narrowed her eyes.

Holger seemed to straighten up nervously. "Oh, Lee what if for sake of the play time fun joke, Cam buy same bag, what Lee do?"

Lee raised a brow at the unusual question, but still answered. "Seriously? Okay, well in that unlikely case after I shot him into the sun and took the vapor that was once Cam and froze it into a solid, I'd probably smash it with a hammer and shatter it into a billion pieces." She explained in a playfully serious voice as the bus stopped and they walked off.

"What up, muchachoes?" Cam called as he made his way over and he fist-bumped Lee first before doing the same, only Holger flinched back.

"Ouch! Please, no hurt Holger." Holger said.

"Uh, what up with baby hands?" Cam asked in confusion.

"Heh, I think he stayed up too late watching a late night movie." Lee said as the three of them walked the rest of the way to school.

"Dude, that movie was awesome, like how that guy that worked at the fast food got replaced with an evil robot twin?" Cam asked.

Lee started to get excited herself. "I know, I did not see that coming. And his face melted off and it was all circuit boards underneath."

"Yeah, and he's all like," Cam put his phone up to his lips before speaking, only to make Lee freeze, "do you want fries with that?"

Lee heard Holger gasp behind her. "Cam is maybe evil twin robot?"

_'What the hell?'_ Lee thought at Holger's odd statement before asking about the voice change. "That sounded just like Radcircles."

"Yo, he must have downloaded the Voice 8000 app too, man." Cam said before chuckling nervously. "Cool." He and made a face at Holger as he invaded his personal space. "Seriously, can you stop that; you're totally freaking me out."

* * *

"Dude, that voice app Cam has is 50 bucks," Lee said looking up the price on her own phone, "where did he get the cash?"

"Maybe he no need to buy app, since maybe Cam is maybe, perhaps…yes, Holger must say it now." Holger said holding up a paper of a strangely drawn Cam. "A robot!"

Lee let out a slight sigh of frustration. "Holger, people aren't robots, it was one lousy late night movie." She said as the morning news came on.

"Good morning A. Nigma students, I'm-"

"Tina Kwee, blah, blah, blah, snorefest, and then there's Chaz Monorainian." Chaz let out a silent cheer. "Thanks, I know, I rule!"

"Right." Tina deadpanned. "So today's top story-"

"I got it from here, T-Snore." Chaz said. "We're just one more day away from the dynamic world premiere of the exclusive you won't want to miss. All here on 'Chaz's Corner!'" he shouted. "And here's just a taste of what in you're in for A. Nigma high."

The images that appeared first were of Irwin picking his nose and the students in class laughed, the second image being the of the football players barfing and the laughing increased, and after shock passed through Lee's senses, she realized what she was seeing.

"Do you know what this means?" she asked looking over at Holger.

"Cam is-"

Lee cut him off as she really didn't want to hear this again. "Chaz has the prank footage!" she hissed.

"Tune in tomorrow for the exclusive prank video on Chaz's Corner!" Chaz shouted. "With Chaz!"

Lee heard her phone go off and narrowed her eyes at the unknown number. "Radcircles?" she asked herself before ducking below her desk.

"_Knock, Knock._"

"Yeah, who's there?" Lee asked tersely.

_"Betcha."_

"Betcha who?" Lee asked annoyed.

_"Betcha never get to see that tape! Oh, and thanks for actually playing along for once."_ The other voice started laughing.

"Okay RadC, I'll take that bet." Lee said coldly before hitting the end button. She straightened up, only to put a great amount of panic in her voice as she raised her hand. "Mr. Langhorn, please, please, before I spontaneously combust!" she quickly made her way to the front of the class and after grabbing the pass-key, she made her way down to the news room and could hear Tina saying something as she got closer.

"But how did _you_ get the prank footage?"

Lee slammed the door open. "My question exactly!" she shouted and made her way over to the desk.

"Oh Ping, please, you don't remember our little race for the camera?" Chaz questioned.

Lee narrowed her eyes as she thought back to the first day and how she saw a figure running out the door in the gym and her eyes widened. "Wha-that was _you_?"

"Yeah, " Chaz said in annoyance, "and I still have leg cramps at night, thank you very much."

Lee leaned on the desk again, her temper started to run high, and for such a tight lid she kept on her emotions, this wasn't a good thing. "Okay Radcircles…" she started off angrily, but then her tone died down as she realized that this was _Chaz_ she was talking too and disbelief set in. "…we finally meet?"

"Who's what now?" Chaz shot back. "Radburples?"

"You know what, forget it," Lee said starting up the footage, "just show me the footage."

Chaz smacked her hand away and shut the computer. "Now what would be the fun in that? Be sure to tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…" he said trying to give his voice an echo to it. "…tomorrow, on Chaz's Corner!" he shouted that last part and made Lee flinch back.

The door was slammed off it's hinges, as the cleaners and Barrage came in. Lee ducked under the desk hurriedly to avoid getting spotted.

"The hair!" Chaz cried as he was grabbed by the cleaners and pulled away from the desk. "Aw come on."

"Seems you have something I want." Barrage said. "And what in the name of sweet sirloin of sasafract are you doing under there?" he added as he reached under the desk and pulled Lee out by the back of her shirt. "Expecting for mice?"

Lee decided to try and play dumb as she looked around. "What, this isn't the washroom." She said before nervously holding up her hall pass.

Barrage set her down but kept a threatening grip on her. "Get back to class! I know you're bladder, and it's up to no good. I'll deal with you later!" he said pushing Lee roughly toward the exit.

Lee left the room, but a smirk appeared on her face as she clutched the memory drive in her palm after switching it when she ducked under the table.

* * *

Lee stared at the memory drive with a contemplative expression on her face as the door opened and Biff came in. "Aw man, I gotta write a stupid essay today, this totally bites." He said walking back to his desk.

"Biff, do you have anything that'll play this?" Lee held up the drive. "It won't fit in mine." She said nodding at her computer.

"Yeah, I got an external, but I really need to focus on this essay." Biff replied and started up his laptop before slapping his head. "Oh man! Now you got me curious. What's on it?"

Lee grinned as she held the drive out to him. "Prank footage."

"Really?" Biff asked interested. "How'd you score that?"

"When the psycho cleaner dudes broke in, I went all stealth ops." Lee replied as she explained about the switch.

"Whoa! Secret agent smooth." Biff said appreciatively and Lee blushed. "You're getting good at this…_honey_."

Lee's blushed went even redder before she took out her phone and made a recording of herself. "Hold on, I wanna do this first." She said before clearing her throat. "Knock, knock, _Radcircles_," she said smirking at the camera, "looks like I _did_ get the footage and pretty soon I'll know exactly who's there!" she said as her smirk was accompanied by narrowed eyes and hit the send button. "Did…that sound intimidation at all?" she asked more uncertainly.

"Yeah, I totally peed my pants a little." Biff deadpanned and Lee rolled her eyes. "Though did you have to use your hot look?"

Lee raised a brow. "Excuse me?" she questioned before realizing what she did. "Oh, whoops." She chuckled in embarrassment. She made her way to Biff's other side and watched as the video came on.

Only it wasn't _quite_ what she wanted to see.

"_Chaz's Corner!_" Chaz said signing into a hairbrush. _"I don't know what sounds best, maybe this, Chaaazzz's Cooorooorrner! Or I don't know, Cha-az's Chaaaz's…"_

"This seems…not it." Biff said.

Lee pouted as she thought back to when she took the drive and her jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me! _Chaz_ switched it first." She groaned.

Biff laughed. "Dude, Chaz totally played you!"

"He's still got the footage on him!" Lee exclaimed, too sidetracked to admonish her boyfriend. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist in anger.

When they were let out detention, Lee kissed Biff farewell before going off to find Chaz. "You see Chaz?" she asked only to get a negative headshake before moving onto the next person she saw. "You see Chaz?"

"Yo Lee, I gotta get that footage from Chaz and-" Cam said walking up as she showed him the fake drive.

"I got it but it's not the right-" Lee tried to explain, but Cam took it out of her fingers.

"Dude, that's awesome, I'll bring it back ASAP." He said walking away and Lee slapped her forehead.

* * *

Lee looked up at the T.V in the hall as Barrage appeared.

"Would Chaz Monorainian please report to the principal's office, oh and could you please bring that prank footage with you, now! Or else!"

"What did we say about threat?" Vice principal Victoria said offscreen as she whacked Barrage on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

Lee continued on her way down the hall to detention and Biff looked up as she walked in. "Hey, I think I got a first sentence, how do you spell 'delinquish'?"

"Pretty sure that's not a word." Lee replied.

Biff crumpled up the paper and threw it at Lee. "Then you write it!" he shouted angrily. "I can't take this!"

Lee ducked down to avoid it as the paper and heard it hit something behind her. "Dude! Why did you give me the wrong card man? I was so in, now I'm like so out! Mucho not good bro!" Cam said angrily.

Lee turned around and frowned at him. "Hey, you ran off before I could even explain."

Cam slapped his head. "Yeah, but you coulda like texted me or something!"

"I did." Lee shot back.

Cam looked down at his phone sheepishly. "Oh. 'Hey Cam 'bout that card' heh."

"Guys." Biff said in frustration. "You're wasting time and blowing my concentration!" he said angrily before calming down enough to talk straight. "Look, Chaz is playing _everyone_ okay? So split up and work together to find him. Just get out of here and leave me alone already!" he said slamming his fist down on his desk.

Lee looked at Cam before they both bolted out of the room, Lee not even wanting to be in the same room with an angry boyfriend.

"There is no escape, Private Monorainian!" Barrage yelled over the T.V. "You will give me that footage!" he said. "Until I get that tape, it's lockdown people." He added and the doors all got barricaded shut. "A. Nigma High, Chaz is by the front doors, and anyone who brings me Chaz, gets a special reward; dead, or alive." He said, only to get whacked over the head again. "Okay, alive only."

Lee knew it was time to really put some effort into finding Chaz and was out of breath by the staircase when her phone rang.

_"Hehheheh, how's the wild goose chase?"_

Lee let out a grunt as she hung up her phone at Radcircles' smarmy voice. "Anything?" she asked as Cam came down the stairs.

"Nah, you?" he asked and Lee shook her head before running off.

The redhead frowned halfway down the hall as a thought came over her. "This is stupid, why not-" she cut herself off as she dialed Chaz's number on her phone and waited for him to answer.

_"Hello?"_

"Chaz?" Lee questioned. "Why do sound in stereo?" she asked before turning around and opened the locker.

"Please don't kill me," Chaz pleaded, "this is my big story, this is gonna make me. Like the prank made you. Come one, how 'bout a little moving on up camaraderie?"

Lee stared at him unimpressed. "Here's the deal, give me the memory card _now_."

"No, that deal sucks." Chaz replied.

Lee rolled her eyes. "Okay, how 'bout I getcha home safe and you show me everything?"

"I mighta mentioned alive before, what I really need is the tape, the rest, well…" Barrage trailed off as he appeared on T.V.

"Hey, you!"

"Alright." Chaz said in defeat and Lee opened up one of the vents and went in first. "Aw, this is gonna stain my pants, isn't it?" he whined before Lee reached down and pulled him up and closed the vent after them.

Lee led the other boy down the vent trail and made sure to always stay ahead of Chaz, because while he vain and selfish, she wasn't about to get 'accidently' groped in such an enclosed space. It had been mostly shock that might have kept the skaters at bay when the three of them were in the recycle bin.

Lee stopped over the library and pulled the tile back and the two of them dropped down. "Shh!" she whispered. "I know a secret way by the back, there's a tunnel out. There renovating in here so just keep quiet."

Chaz bumped a hammer and it clanked on the floor. Lee glared at him and Chaz held up a finger. "Uh, that was half my fault and half gravity's."

Lee looked at the shelf exit and hurried her way down the other end. "Run!" she said forgoing the tunnel and instead ran into a classroom and pulled Chaz in before shutting pushing them behind the door and watched the cleaners run by and only then did Lee shut the door. "Why don't we just broadcast the video now? Over the net, then it won't matter if you hand over the card."

"That's good with the Chaz, but talk to Chaz's agent." Chaz said looking away from her momentarily before looking back. "Okay, I'm secretly my agent too and as my agent, I say let's do this baby! I'm excited! Chaz is the man!"

Lee rolled her eyes before she set up the camera and Chaz put the drive in a laptop. "Alright Chaz, all set to go?" she questioned.

"Yeah, thing is, I can't just play it, I need an intro, I'm the Chaz right? Hype baby, it's catnip for my fans." Chaz said slicking his hair back.

Lee glared at him. "How about, if you call me baby again I'll kick you into next week, how's that sound?" she hissed.

"Okay, _touc-hy_." Chaz said and Lee gritted her teeth. "Ladies and kids, I've been hunted down mercilessly, but the soon to be award winning journalist is still standing. And looking pretty darn stunning wouldn't you say?"

Lee rolled her eyes in disgust. "Get to the point!"

"They won't let me broadcast over the news, but that can't stop us, 'cause we have something called the Internet. So here's my exclusive one day early, watch and week babies!" Chaz said and started up the prank footage.

Lee looked over at the laptop, her lips pursing. "Ugh, this footage is garbage." She said as the laptop stopped working and the screen shut off before coming back on. "Thank you battery power."

"Wait, is it still broadcasting?" Chaz questioned.

"Uh, nope." Lee replied looking at the no outward signal. She heard Chaz make a whine of disappointment, but she herself gasped as she watched Cam switch her bag.

"Cam? Switching my bag?" she asked in disbelief.

"Uh, Lee." Chaz said grabbing Lee's chin and turning it toward the door, where a mob was trying to break through.

"There he is."

"Get him!"

Cam came through the crowd. "Hand me the footage, Chaz." He said walking over and looked at Lee. "Hey, how come you didn't tell me you found it?" he asked before taking the drive out of the laptop and made a triumphant yell. "Ha! Gotcha! Guys, I got it, the _real_ one this time."

Lee reached over Cam for it. "No, Cam."

Chaz pushed by Lee's head as he reached for the drive as well. "Give me that!" he shouted as the 'in-crowd' walked over and both Chaz and Lee were booted back.

"That's too hard." Cam said as the crowd seemed to be crushing him and they back off when the drive broke in two. "Problem solved, right?"

The crowd cheered, but Lee was decidedly not happy about it.

"Cam!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, right, sorry bro." Cam said apologetically.

"Chaz, you're off the news desk until further notice." Barrage said and Chaz dropped to his knees with a cry.

"Nooo! I have been robbed!" he yelled.

"Everyone, go the heck home." Barrage said. "Nothing to see here. Literally." He said and approached Lee. "And you, Ping, for harboring a known fugitive, the detention you had before was nothing like the detention you're gonna have from now on. Get ready for _real_ pain. The painful kind!"

Lee out a defeated sigh, but still brought up the image she saved and stared at the picture of Cam switching her bag. _'Cam, no, it can't be true.'_

* * *

"Hey, sorry for breaking the drive essay." Cam said over the web cam. "But on the plus side, the cool kids love me man. And on the not so plus side, you still got detention. So it's like, sort of a win-lose kind of situation."

"Yeah, but I don't-" Lee tried to say but Holger cut her off.

"Holger just glad Cam no have the robot titanium exo skeleton." He said and the door opened.

"Lights out!" Lee's mother said shutting the lights off.

"Goodnight guys." Lee said. "Gotta go." She added before their web cams turned off. Though before she could shut her computer down, another one appeared.

"The footage is gone, guess you'll never get the to the bottom of the mystery now." Radcircles said.

"Yeah, but I saw it. I know who switched my bag." Lee said angrily. "I know it's you…Cam!"

Radcircles chuckled before speaking. "Hope you like my surprise." He said before his web cam left her screen.

Lee furrowed her brow. "What's that supposed to-"

"LEE PING!" Lee jumped up in her seat before the door to her room was slammed open and her mother angrily turned the light back on. "What is the meaning of this!"

"What?" Lee asked genuinely bewildered. Her mother showed her the photo of Lee and Biff, the one with them _kissing_. Lee felt her horror unfold as she realized what Radcircles twisted surprise for her was. "It…it's not what it looks like."

"Oh no?" Her mother said skeptically. "From now on, you are _not_ allowed to see this boy, _anymore!_"

Lee couldn't believe what was happening. She wanted to get angry, she wanted to scream, but all she could do was sit in frozen terror as any chance of being with Biff was shattered. _This can't be happening._

But it was.

* * *

**A/N: Surprise! How's _that_ for an end of the season twist?**

**And until I can't get to the new episodes, that's all there is folks!**

**Heh, heh, I'm such a bitch aren't I?**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long, but computer troubles that I'm working out have taken a toll, but I have _not_ abandoned this story. And I'd like to thank La Catrinita for the book cover and Vanessa Masters for helping me with scenes from this chapter. You both rock!**

**This took me nearly all night, but I hope it's worth it, now excuse me while I fall down. *Collapses in exhaustion***

* * *

Chapter 14

Lee felt like she was in a state of continual disbelief, she knew it was ridiculous really to be so hung up on one single boy, but she really _did_ like that boy and thought it could've been something more. Oh, her parents had been furious when they saw the picture of her kissing Biff, and her mother was planning on getting Barrage to _separate_ her and Biff so they couldn't even see each other in detention.

And that wasn't even going into the whole 'Cam is Radcircles' thing. Her _friend_ had set her up! So not cool.

On the way to school, when she would be normally holding on for dear life, she was leaning against the window, staring blankly out at the passing buildings. Oh, the sting was there, but she wasn't going to just go catatonic from this. If anything, she was going to fight to _keep_ her and Biff together just as everything seemed ready to fall apart.

"Very disappointed in you Lee," And of course there was her mother's reminder of what she did, "sneaking around your father's and mine's back too-" Lee saw the stop light turn green and the car in front hadn't gone yet-"Go!"

For the rest of the ride, it was Lee trying to block out her mother's voice, wanting at least a little bit of time to herself where she wasn't being reminded that after today she wasn't going to be seeing Biff in detention. When they arrived in the school's parking lot, Lee got out of the passenger side and her mother got out of the driver's, coming around the car to pat her on the head. "Just be good and behave, okay? And I know that Biffy boy's got detention with you, so I'll be talking to Principal Barrage to have him put in a separate room hopefully by lunch so you won't have to see him." she made a disapproving sound. "Should focus on your studies more than boys." She muttered before walking toward the school.

Lee flattened her and spoke up quickly, knowing she might not be able to reason with her mother after this. "Mom, you're blowing this way out of proportion! Biffy and I being together hasn't hurt anyone, and it's only _one_ boy I'm stuck on."

Mrs. Ping turned around and crossed her arms. "Fiddle-sticks, Lee. And your father agrees that you staying as far apart from that boy is the best thing possible."

Lee scowled. "Dad only agreed 'cause he's _scared_ of you." She muttered.

"Don't talk about your father that way! He works hard to provide for you." Mrs. Ping pointed warningly at Lee. "And I don't even want to hear a _hint_ of you seeing that boy, today, or any another day to come; or it will be _payday_, missy!" she exclaimed, and continued on walking to show that the conversation was over.

Lee silently fumed, thinking that this really _was_ an extreme thing to do. Really, the only thing that got hurt was her parent's unreasonable rule of her dating when she was twenty one. And she wasn't even _dating_ Biff, _yet_, more like they just saw each other during the day.

Lee noticed someone in the bushes and her anger faded slightly when she saw who it was and scratched her head in confusion. "Holger, what are you doing here?"

"Holger feel shame and hide in shadows." Lee's taller friend replied and ducked back into the bush.

The rest of Lee's anger turned into concern. "Are you okay, man?" Holger made a strange sound before taking out his phone and showing her a video of Cam buying the same bag as her. "Cam buying the same bag as mine? So that's where the decoy bag came from."

Holger jumped up from the bush in worry. "Is friendship times in danger?"

Lee looked away thoughtfully. "Well, I did also see footage of Cam switching my bag with this one, and then he destroyed the footage," her eyes widened, "_and _he's always wanted to be popular, but there still has to be some kind of explanation. Right?"

Holger looked even more worried. "Yes please."

Lee frowned to herself, and while she didn't like it, Cam being Radcircles might be the only explanation she might be able _to_ give. "Uh, let's head inside." She said hoping to distract the blond. But it seemed Holger wanted to get away from this subject too as they made their way into the school and to their first class.

"Good morning A. Nigma high," Tina said, alone in the news room as Chazz was in _their_ room, "I'm Tina Kwee and this is the news." She sighed in relief. "Wow, I actually finished a thought without being interrupted. How nice. Speaking of which, today's top story is that Chazz Monorainian has been suspended from the news."

Chazz stood up in front of the class. "First of all, I did not get suspended people, I'm just taking a few personal days, okay?" he was pelted with rolled up paper balls. "Ow! Paper cut, that stings."

"Many students are calling Cam a hero for destroying that footage," Tina said and a piece of paper was held within the sight of the camera. The girl took the piece of paper, "Oh, this just in, Lee Ping is to report to Principal Barrage's office, what a surprise."

Lee bit her lip and gloomily walked out of the room as the teacher pointed to the door. She ignored the snickers and the sound of Tina was still in her ears as she entered the hall.

"If I can editorialize," she said as Barrage appeared out of nowhere and pointed further down the hall, "what would you call a lying girlfriend who turns into a lying prankster that let's everybody down and tries to ruin a date with a hot boy?" Lee felt her disbelief rise, she thought Tina was over that by now. "A disappointment? A joker? A punkette? A Jezebel?! A _skank?!_ That's right!" Tina huffed and Lee gasped at what she was just called over the air. "I'm not afraid to use a Thesaurus!"

"That lady does not like you…" Barrage pointed out.

"Honestly, I thought we got past that whole misunderstanding. And it's not like I _was_ trying to steal him from her. What's up with that!?" Lee exclaimed to herself, only to let out a yelped her she was lifted off the floor by her collar by Barrage.

"Yes, well all's _un_fair in love and war!" he retorted. "And especially little Prissy Princesses who make me pukety sick with their contempt for the rules!" he continued and Lee is turned to a janitor's closet. "Well I'm throwing that contempt back into you joker, skanky little punkette face! With some good ol' fashion janitorial punishment."

"I think it's against the Charter to call a female student a skank." Lee pointed out.

"Respectfully withdrawn, you will only have to do this for two hour given my little slip of the tongue there." Barrage said and ran his tongue over his teeth. "Knew I shouldn't have gone for the fancy synthetic band and gone for the silver."

Lee looked down at the mop and bucket before looking down the dirty hallway. _'Two hours, how lovely.'_ She thought grimly.

* * *

When 9 0'clock hit, Lee had already made it down to the end of the hall, her back aching from moping. She scowled at Irwin, who smirked at her before dropping a sandwich onto the clean floor. She felt tempted to hit him with the mop, but that could only get her into _more_ trouble.

"And I was all like 'hot dogity dog bro,' you're not supposed to eat it." Lee heard Cam say and looked up to find him with his new group of 'friends.'

The group laughed at the joke and Brad spoke up. "Totally cool, did Dickie tell you about the party?"

Said boy rolled his eyes. "Pool party, Brad's place."

"Dude, girls in bikinis, I'm so there," Cam said holding out his hand, "like give me your house keys." He said and group laughed again. "No seriously, give me your house keys." He said a bit more quietly and once again, the group laughed. He looked around himself and saw Lee standing by the mop bucket and noticeably brightened up. "Dude! The 411, my boy Von Chill is having a pool party after school, yo and it's gonna be sick. You gotta come, like 911."

Lee had her arms crossed, _not_ looking happy before grabbing him by the shoulders. "You, me, private, now." she said steering him into the girl's washroom.

"So, um, why are we in the girl's washroom?" Cam questioned looking around.

Lee returned to her crossed arms position. "I think you know why."

Cam's expression got even more perked up as he looked at Lee. "Ahh." He said knowingly and gave her his 'Casanova' look. "So, you can't see your boyfriend in public anymore so you wanna go for the next best thing, right?"

"Ha! If by next best thing, you mean 'to ugly Shrek doll." One of the girls by the mirror said.

"Good one." The other girl said as they laughed and walked out.

Lee gave Cam an incredulous stare, wondering why his mind even _went there_ and thinking how she should have slapped _him_ with the mop instead when she had the chance. "What? _No!_ And I don't care what my parent say, Biffy and I are still together."

Cam nodded in mocking agreement. "Right. Cause you were _sooo_ official before with him not wanting to let anyone know you two were together."

Lee gritted her teeth and growled through them, her fists firmly at her sides. "You're on thin ice as it is Mr. I'll Frame His Best Friend Who Is The _Only_ Girl Who'll Be Seen With Him by framing her with detention so he'll get popular be seen with girls!" she huffed before going in for the reveal. "Or should I say _Radcircles!_"

The door to the stall opened and Beth walked out. "Look, even if you can't see your boyfriend, why'd you drag _him_ in here?"

"_What?!_" Cam exclaimed in offence. "Like I couldn't be an improvement over Biffy T. Goldstein?"

Lee felt ready to explode. "Listen to me you Mexican fruit fly!" she hissed, looking like an angry cat. "I genuinely like Biffy and I saw us having a future. Then you swoop in like some hungry vulture and picked clean the scraps of popularity that I didn't even want for something I never even did!"

"Okay, could you not be so graphic?" Cam asked holding up his hands and Lee poked him in the nose. "Ow!"

"And if that wasn't enough, you call my mom and send her the picture of me and Biffy kissing?" Lee questioned as her voice was now low and growly. "_Is this some sick repressive desire for me making you do this crap?!"_ she screamed.

"Look Chica, you're crazy if you think I'd mess with you and Biffy." Cam retorted. "One; despite I thought you were totally loco, I saw you liked him, so I wouldn't blab to your mom. Two; if I had told anyone and Biffy found out it was me, he'd _pulverize_ me! And thrice; we're friends Chiquita, you don't honestly think I'd do that sorta thing, do you, Lee?"

Cam took a breather moment and Lee felt herself grow from angry to mortified as she thought about the points he was making. Oh, this was not good; what if he was telling the truth? "That still doesn't explain the knapsack." She whispered.

"That? Dude, in all the craziness you're bag fell on the floor, I just picked it up." Cam replied.

Lee bit her lip. "Oh yeah, then why did Holger see you buy the exact same bag as mine at the mall? Explain that."

Cam paused for a moment, his expression embarrassed. "Well I bought that bag for me." He said and Lee blinked. "And when I saw that you had the same one I gave it to my sister." He said and took out his phone. "You don't believe me? Then here."

A picture came up on the phone showing Cam being punched in the stomach by a little girl wearing the same bag as Lee. "Huh?" Was Lee's remark. So he tossed the bag because he thought it was a girl's bag?

"You think I'd set you up and stuff, man? What gives?" Cam questioned as he put the phone away. "I thought we were like friends, essay." He said bringing the friends point up again.

Lee felt really embarrassed now and she rubbed the back of her neck. "I…uh…"

"Dude, paranoid much?" Cam pointed at her. "You've changed, all that prankster stuff has totally turned your brain into a piñata full of scrambled wavvos, bro." he said and the door to the bathroom opened, revealing Robin.

Lee put her hands on her hips and glared. "Do you mind?"

Robin glared back at her before slamming the door shut as she turned away.

Lee huffed. "Really." She said before poking Cam in the chest. "Me changing? What about you? Hanging with the cool kids?"

"Yeah, you're just jealous the cool kids all like me for something I actually _did_ do." He said throwing one of Lee's points back in her own face. "But whatever ex-bro." he said walking toward the door. "Peace and grease." He said letting the door shut behind him. "She's in there."

Lee's eyes widened as she heard Barrage walking closer and when he opened the door. "What in the Sam Heck? Ah, Ping, out, now." he said grabbing Lee by the back of her collar and dragged her out.

Lee crossed her arms, feeling conflicted. "Okay, did I just accuse my best friend of something he didn't do?" she asked herself and was dragged all the way to the gym, where she was finally allowed to stand back up as Barrage opened the door, the lights flickering on.

"See all those dead deflated balls?" Barrage questioned and barked out a laugh. "Ha! Kinda like your love life." Lee winced at that. "Hahahaha, fill them up."

"Hmmm? Where's the pump?" Lee asked.

"Put Northey and Southey together," Barrage made the kissy motion, "and suck those girly lungs in." he said smirking. "That's about _all_ the action your lips will be getting', I reckon your mama will be coming to make sure I put your Gorilla boy-toy somewhere far away, where you can't kiss and cuddle."

Lee scowled. "He's not a gorilla." She retorted. "He's well stocked!"

"Spare me your romantic dismal defense and start blowing!" Barrage said shoving a football into Lee's arms and stomped away.

"It's official, I _hate_ him." she deadpanned and looked at the ground littered with the deflated balls.

* * *

Lee felt like her lungs were burning up as she sucked in a breath and pulled the soccer ball away from her. "Okay…this…might…kill…me…" she panted.

"Why are you kissing that ball?"

Lee blinked and looked up at the two jocks who hung out with Steve lifting weights. The smaller one, Evan she thought his name was, had spoken.

"Is it replacing your boyfriend?" The other one, Trevor, asked and Lee scoffed as the two jocks clunked the weights together in a parody of a high five.

"Babe, I used to think you were cool and did the prank yourself…" Evan began.

"But it's obvious your boyfriend Cam was the brains." Trevor finished. "He's sooo cool."

Lee backtracked and thought she would've spit something up if she'd been drinking anything. "What?" she choked. "Cam is neither cool _nor_ is he my boyfriend?" Why did everyone assume that?

"Oh, maybe he pulled the prank off jus to impress you." Trevor retorted.

Lee rolled her eyes. "Sure." She said sarcastically. "He's already my friend, so why wouldn't he go to such a length to impress me?" she continued on caustically.

"Yeah, I always wondered why he was up in the rafters," Evan said and pointed one weight up to the ceiling. "when it happened."

"Totally!" Trevor added. "I remember that, acting all crazy and going like this…" he said and began to imitate a monkey.

Lee started to piece together what she was hearing. "Wait. Cam was in the rafters during the prank?!"

"Totally camming it up to the max!" Trevor exclaimed.

"I don't think that's a thing." Lee pointed out.

"It is now." Evan retorted.

Lee looked up at the ceiling, thinking that there must be some clue up there, but she needed to blow the rest of the balls up, though there was no way she'd have any energy left to do so. Blinking, she looked at the two jocks and an idea came to mind. She didn't like using her feminine charms, mostly because she wasn't very good at it, but when push came to shove...

"You boys sure do look fine lifting those weights." She began and repressed a shudder. "But _my_ boyfriend is even finer, I bet he could blow up all these balls before school is out and not break a sweat. Bet you boys couldn't even blow up _one_." She said before going in for the kill and giving them her smirk and half-lidded eyes combo.

Seeing as the two jocks looks just as surprised at her tone and a looking like how Biff had looked the first time she'd accidently 'charmed' him, the two dropped their weights and rushed to grab a deflated ball.

"One down!" Trevor shouted. "Piece of cake!"

"Sure, whatever." Lee muttered before making her way over to the ladder that led up to the rafters and just as she was climbing up, her cell rang.

_"Lee, it's Holger from school, I'm quite tall, blond-hair-"_

"I know who you are-" Lee stopped and sighed to herself. "Kinda busy."

_"Holger have query, is Cam evil?_" Holger questioned.

"Cam has excuses for everything." Lee replied. "He…may not be evil," she admitted, "but for some reason, someone saw him up in the rafters."

_"Maybe no evil?! Cam is good!" _Holger shouted into the phone and Lee cringed, the cell flying from her fingers and she couldn't catch it as it fell to the floor. She sighed again and retrieved it before making her way up the ladder and stepped lighting on the catwalk, looking at the flakes of…something with a crinkled nose. "Man, the floors all hard and yucky." She said distastefully, before her eyes widened as she saw something on the floor. "No _way_."

* * *

Though the importance of what she found was still on her mind, Lee didn't want to waste what precious time she might have with Biff by talking about it. When she saw him, she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Biff questioned.

Lee sighed depressively. "Oh, a lot of things, my friend may be Radcircles…my mom knows about us…"

"What, what?!" Biff asked shocked.

"Radcircles sent her the picture of us kissing from the party." Lee explained. "Now my parents are talking about not wanting us to see each other and worse yet is that my mom is going to talk to Barrage about having you transferred somewhere else so I won't even see you here in detention!" she said and rubbed her forehead. "My life was getting better, and then it all went downhill fast!"

Biff awkwardly rubbed her back. "Hey, hey, easy; we'll figure something out. You and I have a good thing going here and I'd like to see it through. But until then we gotta keep our cool."

Lee though about how she'd pretty much _lost_ her cool earlier with Cam and snorted. "You're right…" she said chuckling. "I feel so stupid for being so self-pitying. It's not me."

Biff smiled slightly. "I'm actually sort of flattered you trust me enough to be like this with me, you know, like you got emotions." He said and Lee gave him a deadpan stare and he chuckled before cupping her chin and kissing her. "But don't get me wrong, I _like_ those emotions."

Lee grinned weakly at him. "I think I'm also starting to."

"But what about this friend?" Biff questioned and Lee sighed again. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"The jocks saw 'em in the rafters during the prank and I went up to check it out and there were all these crunchy potato chips laying around and right there in the middle of it was…"

The door slammed open and Barrage stood in the doorway. "Well Ping, here we are again, another end while the good children play. And just in case you were thinking of slippin' out _again_…" A flying robot with a giant eye came floating in and Lee stared at it nervously. "My new soldier on the war on misbehaving will be just outside the door to make sure you stay put." He said and slammed the door shut.

"Great, so psycho has a new killer toy," Biff said shrugging, "the suspense is killing me, what'd you see?"

"A shoeprint, from someone's right foot." Lee relayed.

"Oh, so what now? You gonna wear a disguise and start swiping people's shoes?" Biff questioned rhetorically.

Lee smiled again before shaking her head. "No, but it's a quick way for me to see if they were really up there or not." She said getting out of her seat and pulling the chalkboard over. "Check it." She said drawing a foot. "They have notoriously bad stink foot, killer bad." She pulled back and grimaced. "Seriously, boy needs to see a doctor or something." She muttered before drawing something else on the board. "And they never take off their shoes."

"What's that?" Biff asked once he saw the round –looking thing.

"I'm getting to that." Lee said. "Brad's having a pool party today."

"That's a pool? Looks like a kidney." Biff said dubiously.

Lee rolled her eyes. "It one of those fancy pools. The point is, the shoes will be off and all I need to do is sneak out, streetcar over, swipe the shoe, get back, and we're laughing." She explained, but frowned when Biff reached over and drew a phone.

"Or you can call Holger and get him to get the shoe for you." He said simply.

Lee flushed. "Right, or that." She said hitting speed dial and waited for the other line to get picked up and sat back down at her desk. She heard gurgling on the other line and raised a brow. "Are you…swimming with your phone?"

_"Yes, well Holger is silly goosengogen with water proof phone."_ Holger replied.

Lee really had no idea about what he'd just said. "I need you to do me a favor."

_"Is favor something against Cam? For he is good now, remember?"_ Holger pointed out.

Lee blinked and her shoulder slumped. "Yeah, but-"

_"No, Holger not do bad stuff against friend. Holger meister is tone." _Holger said and paused. "_And is in middle of game. Polo."_

Lee reeled back when she heard the watery sounds and figured she'd have to take care of this herself then. "Looks like we go with my plan." She said making her onto the desk.

"What about crazy-eye bot?" Biff reminded her.

Lee shrugged and pushed in the vent before pulling herself up. "Whatev, just go this way. And if Barrage thinks he has us trapped, he won't comeback." She said before crawling out of sight.

* * *

"What stop was it at again?" Lee questioned as she tried to make herself look as small as possible on the bus.

_"Two more."_ Biff replied.

"Lee Ping," A familiar voice said and Lee looked behind her at Tina, "sneaking out of detention just after you got _caught_ sneaking out of detention?"

Lee chuckled nervously. "You always catch me at my worst, Tina…how do you do that?"

"It's a gift. And really, I thought you'd be trying to be more careful what with your mom finding out about Biffy." Tina replied.

"What…even if I knew what you were talking about, how do you know?" Lee questioned before she paused. "_Cam!"_

"Actually, it was Holger." Tina rebuked. "He came to me asking that 'Lee's girly-girl best friend help with the lover's torn dilemma of friend Lee."

Lee blinked and knew it was pointless to get angry. "His heart is in the right place; just don't know where the hell his brain is."

"Well, it doesn't look good for your sneaking out of school nor will it help your chances of staying close to Biffy." Tina pointed out and held up a hand to stop Lee from speaking. "Don't worry, I won't tell Principal Barrage. I think it's great you're breaking a stereotype of a popular kid by dating one of the outskirts of the social ranks."

"Look, I'm not exactly what you'd call popular right now. And that's more Brandy's train of thought than mine." Lee replied.

"More like a small car." Tina muttered. "Besides, it's only me, Cam, Holger and Brandy. Nobody even cares enough to remember without being reminded." She said and moved further up the bus, but Lee stopped her.

"Wait, I'm heading to a pool party, you want to come?" Lee questioned and her tone turned teasing. "Brad will be there."

Tina blushed. "Brad?" she asked before her expression went deadpan. "Like he'd want to see me; he hasn't spoken to me since _you_ pranked his hair." She said glaring at Lee and the redhead's face fell.

"I screwed up, but with everything else falling apart on me…" Lee pressed on to the reason she was trying to get to. "The point is, I was trying to help one of my best friends not be humiliated by the Glamazons and it…" she shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "Backfired on me. Look, just 'cause Biffy and I might be over, does mean I want your chance at a relationship to be over too. I'll tell him it was my fault and that I was 'venting frustration over lack of relationship with my beau' or whatever psycho babel I'll have to say to make him see it wasn't your fault."

Tina smiled slightly. "You'd do that for me?"

"I said 'best friend." Lee smiled warmly back. "I'll always stick with you, plus you're the one girl I can stand being friends with."

Tina chuckled. "Whose fault is that Miss I'll dress like a boy and hang out with them?" she said. "Okay, I forgive you and I'll go to the party. I'll even remind you if it's close to detention time."

Lee smirked. "Are you sure you'll remember?" she made a lovey-dovey sound. "Braaaad will be there in a swimsuit."

Tina giggled and playfully shoved Lee. "Shut up! Like you wouldn't be the same with Biffy?" she said and Lee's expression faults and the other girl winced. "I really am sorry; if I could do something to help I would…best friends right?"

"Yeah." Lee said lightly. "But I don't a female friendship will help with this problem."

"Maybe the pool party will cheer you up." Tina said optimistically.

Lee nodded absently as they sat down and waited for the bus to stop and when they arrived, Lee gave a lazy wave at the host. "Hey Brad, what's up?"

The blond looked surprised to see her. "Ping, I didn't expect…Tina?" he asked as the other girl walked in behind Lee.

Lee put a hand on Brad's shoulder. "Yeah, about that hair thing, all my fault, prankster and all. Truce? Is Cam here?" she rushed out.

"Yeah, he's over there." Brad pointed over to the pool.

"Thanks." Lee said walking over to the pool, her eyes searching for her friend. "Cam?"

"Oh, what's up girl?" Cam asked before narrowing his eyes and crossed his arms. "Uh-uh, I mean, I'm not talking to you right not you double crosser!"

"Look, we need to talk…" Lee said and Holger rushed up to her and Cam.

"Oh, guys! Happy together again and happy, ja?" he asked.

Lee would've answered, had she not heard something that made her blood run cold.

"…you are the Vice Principal."

Lee's eyes widened in horror. "The Vice Principal?!" she hide behind Holger as Victoria looked over the party and Lee peered over Holger's shoulder to wait for the woman to look away."Chica, if I was talking to you I'd tell you that VP Victoria and half the pool party is looking at you."

"Cam say…ow!" Holger cringed as Lee hit Holger on the side.

"I heard him, Holger. I _am_ right here." Lee muttered to herself. "Well you can tell Cam I'm not speaking to him either then."

Holger looked over at Cam. "Lee say to tell you…"

Cam crossed his arms. "Yeah, well, this stink; come on Holger, let's check out the ladies."

Holger sniffed and waved a hand under his nose. "Holger did smell guyvoiken in air." He said before Cam pulled him away and Lee was left without a shield.

The redhead gasped and hide behind a patio chair, ready to make a call when a voice broke through the air. "Lee Ping!" Lee looked over and saw Brandy glaring at her. "You're at the party and didn't even bother to text to tell me?" she asked crossing her arms.

Lee shrugged. "Sorry?" she questioned and heard her phone go off. "Kinda spur of the moment."

"What is it about I'm your BFF that you don't understand?" Brandy questioned.

"Pretty much all of it." Lee said dryly as she heard Brandy made a grumbling noise and stalk away. Lee grabbed her phone and gasped when she thought she saw the VP see her before scurrying over to the bushes, seeing Brad and Tina talking on the other side.

"That's my dad's nature garden where he grows all the easy to love stuff; peaches, mango, kiwis, I prefer natures rejects, like the turnip," Brad pulled a turnip out of the ground, "he'll never get a date, right?" Lee blinked at Tina's giggle. "Wanna help me till the soil?"

"I'd love too." Tina blushed before pausing. "I think, that's a gardening thing right?"

Lee watched as they dug up the soil, only to get smacked in the face _by_ the soil as she gagged. She gritted her teeth and moved from her spot. "Sure, why not, it's not like I don't already _feel_ like dirt." She muttered and eased by the patio and hid behind another lawn chair before kneeling by the pool where Holger was. "Holg, you gotta help me."

"Help you? On secret spy mission? Or help Cam and Lee friendcakes again?" Holger asked crossing his arms.

Lee raised a brow. "I'm gonna go with friendcakes."

Lee reeled back as Holger hugged her leg. "Then for sure Holger know how to fix. Lee and Cam play happy game of friendship tetherball, fun, no? We laugh, then we cry a teensy bit, but it be happy cry, because all is happy town now, ja?"

Both of Lee's brows were raised now. "Yeah." She answered slowly. "Or Cam and I have a cannonball contest, winner says there sorry."

"Cannonball? Water splash all over us? Ja, ja!" Holger said enthusiastically. "Me get Cam." He said and Lee waited before Holger pushed Cam over to the diving board. "Cannonball!" he drawled out.

"Yeah, I bet you can totally out cannonball Lee." Brandy said as Lee looked over to the top of the platform where the VP was walking away and felt her bravado rise.

"Yeah, let's sort out differences out the old fashioned way." She said.

"Yeah, for the senorita, I do it." Cam said pointing at Brandy. "Then, you'll be Cammonballed." He said and the sounds of agreement were amongst the crowd.

Lee crossed her arms as she made her way over to the platform. "I don't see you taking off your shoes."

Cam narrowed his eyes at her as he glanced down at his feet. "We'll you haven't taken off your shirt either!" he retorted and Lee scowled as she made her way onto the diving board, pulling her shirt off, only to let it go flying over to the edge when she saw that the VP was once again looking over the party. '_Crap!'_ she thought as she fell in rather ungracefully and swam over to the edge of the pool and watched Cam make his way onto the board.

Lee hurried up the ladder and grabbed her shirt, slipped it back on before swiping Cam's shoe before she started running for the bus stop, holding the smelly shoe away from her. She held her phone up to her ear and heard Biff's voice on the other line.

_"Dude, you're dead, you know what time it is?"_

Lee looked at the time on her clock and it read 4:06. "I know, but good news is that I've got a shoe, bad news is that it's toxic." She said and held down her urge to vomit. She gasped as she saw the bus leaving. "No! I'll never make it back in time now."

_"Sign the certificate, wrangle the ponies, it's over,"_ Biff said as the sound of Barrage's footsteps came over the line and his tone turned sad for a moment, _"good-bye Lee."_

Lee felt like screaming as he hung up, her feeling of helplessness intensifying when the VP pulled up, her expression serious.

"We need to talk." She said after rolling the window down.

"Whoa, VP Victoria, nice car." Lee said nervously. "You know what? There's pretty much nothing I can say. I snuck out to go to a party, you got me."

"Believe it or not, I was in high school once, get in." Victoria said and Lee stared at her blankly for a moment before getting into the car.

"I appreciate the ride, but I still won't make it back in time." Lee said hanging onto the seat for dear life, her eyes wide with fear.

"Don't worry." Victoria assured her before using a wireless phone to call Barrage and Lee could barely make out what was being said on the other line. "I'm dreadfully sorry, I forgot to mention that I needed to get textbooks from the supplier; and I needed someone to carry the boxes so I took Lee Ping…yes, extra heavy books, I wouldn't be surprised if she needed to see a chiropractor for the rest of her days." She said and once in the parking lot, the car came to a halt. "I believe this is your stop."

"Wow; and thanks." Lee said but the VP held up her hand to signal she had more to say.

"But this was your one freebie, don't like it happen again. Not if you and Mr. Goldstein plan on staying together for the rest of the year." Victoria said and Lee looked at her startled. "Now I may not like the fact that he gets in detention _every_ day, but if you like him enough to risk all this, he must be a wonderful young man."

"He is; it's just not fair for everyone else to decide who I get to hang out with or like." Lee said softly.

Victoria placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Don't worry; I'm certain some windfall will come your way to help you." She said and sniffed. "And if you _really_ don't want to be apart from him I know a tremendous doctor who can help you with that odor problem. Young ladies don't keep men for long with that sort of problem."

Lee looked at the shoe and grimly nodded before getting out of the car and hurrying back to the gym and made her way up the rafters. "Okay, moment of truth." She said holding out the shoe and set it onto the print, making a perfect match. "Oh Cam, it was you. The potato flakes, my bag, practically everything!" she said and felt herself getting angry again.

* * *

"Holger wants to know the truth, was Lee at the party on secret spy mission, or to make the friends?" Holger questioned over the web cam.

Lee stared at him incredulously. "Holger, Cam really is-"

"Holger no want to hear it." The blond cut her off and crossed his arms. "You on Holger's bad list for one day, _one day._" He said and his screen turned off.

Lee sighed and heard the door open, seeing her mother look in. This was it, so to speak. "The Vice Principal called saying you did a good job helping her…she also said that Biffy T. Goldstein couldn't be transferred due to budget cuts and the fact the detention room is the only spare room they have." Mrs. Ping said and frowned sharply at the redhead. "Never the less, I don't want you to see him at all outside of detention, _understood?_"

Lee knew she had to play along, and this was more than she could have hoped for. "Yes, mom."

"Also, lights out!" Her mother said turning the lights off and slamming the door shut.

Lee looked at the photo of her on her 10th birthday, frowning in thought. "Cam really is Radcircles then? A prank mastermind just to be popular?" she sighed and leaned back in her chair. "So what do I do now?"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry for such a long wait, but things have been a little erractic, and I'm not exactly sure when the next chapter will be up, but enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 15

Lee felt like grumbling as she felt the leaves hit her in the face from their branches on the bushes she was being forced to sneak through because she couldn't face one of her best friends since he was the one who sorta, might have been, Radcircles. _'This can't get any worse._' She thought before hearing a voice through the bush leading to the track at the school.

"We haven't walked to school together in like a million years."

"It's really been three, but who's counting?"

Lee grinded her teeth as a shot of burning anger churned in her chest. Was that Kimmie with _her_ Biff? Lee blinked in shock before trying to calm herself down. '_Okay, no need to get angry, I'm not jealous. But what _is_ he doing with Kimmie?_' she added and peered through the brush to see Biffy and Kimmie walking their furry friends.

"Awesome lease, where'd you get it?" Kimmie asked.

"I-uh, kinda made it?" Biff replied.

Kimmie chuckled. "You _made_ this? Please, you could never make something this cool. Your girlfriend obviously bought it for you."

Biff shook his head with a smile. "Naw, not Lee's style. But she does help with knitting sweaters for Mrs. Rumple-kitty, so cute seeing her sitting there tickling Rumple-kitty's tummy and her hair-" he abruptly stopped and his eyes widened. "Wait, how do you know that she's my girlfriend?"

Kimmie scoffed. "Please, it's all Brandy ever goes on about, 'Why does Lee like Biffy so much? She should be with someone more popular and less thuggish! Blah, blah, blah!' Ugh, I swear, you'd think she has a crush on Lee with her going on and on and on."

"Hmm." Biff looked thoughtful at the idea before Kimmie slapped him in the arm. "Ow!"

The blonde shook her head. "Seriously, how she puts up with you I'll never know. But she must be something, even _we_ hardly lasted this long." Lee grinded her teeth again and clenched her fists as she tried to keep calm. "But then again, we've always been more like brother and sister."

"Pfft. If I had a sister I'd like her way more than you cause she wouldn't think she was better than me. Like you assume you're so much better than me." Biff retorted.

"Actually I am." Kimmie shot back as she picked up dog and put him in her purse. "I'm better at being pretty, popular, manipulative, and not having to sneak around to see someone I have feelings for. Seriously, you should just be more publicly open with Lee than just having a little kiss only a bus full of people got an eyeful of, and even _then_ we all mostly forgot about it. She's got a _year's_ woth of detention and _several_ years of being mistaken as a boy at that; she needs _something _good in her life." She gave Biff a once over, skepticism etched on her features. "Even if it is _you._"

Only after hearing that did Lee's anger fully fade, letting her relax with the thought maybe Kimmie _wouldn't_ be a rival.

"Your ringing endorsement doesn't fully reassure me." Biff deadpanned.

"Well you can _really_ impress her with one thing you're better at then me…" Kimmie trailed off.

"What's that?" Biff questioned.

Kimmie kicked up the dust in Biff's face. "Eating my dust! Hehehehe!" she laughed as she ran down the track to the school.

Biff coughed out the dust as he glared after her. "Hey! You cheated!"

Lee raised one brow before moving out of the bush and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, now _she's_ not the one I'd accuse of cheating here." She said and smirked at the worried look on Biff's face at her sudden arrival.

"_Nobody's cheating!_ I wasn't talking to anyone!" he shouted.

Lee nodded. "Mmhmm, well Biffy T. Goldstein, I have only one thing to say to that…" she said and slowly walked over to him before grabbing him by the collar and bringing him into a kiss, pulling back after she was done and grinned, "been wanting to do that since last night."

"Okaaay?" Biff looked confused and stunned.

"I heard what you and Kimmie said, and _no_ I wasn't spying but I heard it anyway." Lee said and her tone turned teasing. "Glad to see I'm the _one_ girl who doesn't annoy you so badly."

Biff smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're not a _complete_ bother." He said pulling her close and placing his forehead on hers. "So, since I'm going by your 'Not spying story,' then why _were_ you in the bushes?"

Lee sighed softly. "I'm taking the Ninja Route to school to avoid running into Cam; I just can't deal with the whole conflicting 'My best friend set me up for the prank thing and revealed to my mom about our relationship'."

"Yeah-wait."

Lee froze up herself as she realized what she'd let slip; the one thing she was _trying _not to slip. "Uh-oh."

Biff pulled back from Lee and punched his fist. "I'll _pulverize _him!" he said turning on his heel and making his way to the school.

"Biffy! Biffy, calm down!" Lee tried futilely before grabbing Mrs. Rumple-kitty and racing in front of Biff and holding the cat up. "Look at the happy kitty!"

Biff brushed Lee aside. "Nah, I may not have wanted to…_permanently _be public yet, but _sabotaging _us?! He's going down!" he shouted and pointed to the ground to emphasize his point and continued on his way to the school. "Cam's about to be _slammed_!"

Lee stared after him for a moment in disbelief before picking up the cat. "Biffy! Biffy wait!" she shouted and ran after him, hoping to catch him before he could find Cam, but she found Holger with a pancake on his ear instead. (talks)

"Yaah, hahaha! Take the friendship pancake, yah?" Holger questioned.

Lee slapped the pancake out of Holger's hand and it goes flying into the face of a jock. "Listen here, I need to find Cam _now."_

"Why?" Holger retorted and crossed his arms with a pout. "So friend-Lee can make the bad-bad accusations against friend-Cam?"

Lee's eyes widened in panic. "Not because of that, it's to stop my Godzilla boyfriend from punching Cam so hard he _shatters!"_ she exclaimed and grabbed a hold of Holger by his shirt. "I accidentally told Biffy that Cam is Radcircles or at least that I suspect and let it slip that he might have leaked the photo of us to my _mom_ and now he's going to turn Cam into _paste_."

"No! Oh, poor Cam will be flatter than the friendship pancake, minus the pancake!" Holger said panicky.

While they were in a state of panic, the bell rang out and Lee sighed in relief; at least Biff would have to _wait_ to turn Cam into paste right now and then maybe she could find her friend before Biff did. "We better get to class now." she said uncertainly as they walked to the first period class and waited for the morning announcements to start up, Lee still a state of panic that wasn't going to go away any time soon.

"Do not attempt to adjust your monitor, Chaz Monorainian is _back_." Chaz said striking a smug pose on camera. "So you can all stop picketing now."

"No one picketed for you, Chaz." Tina retorted blandly.

"Oh? I can't hear you Tina over your blatant _demanding me back_ on the news anchor desk from Principal Barrage." Chaz said teasingly.

"I didn't _demand_ you back." Tina sputtered. "I just suggested if there was any quality there should be a male and female news anchor."

"And I was your first pick?" Chaz asked smugly.

"You were my _last_ pick." Tina shot back. "It was all last minute."

"Righhht." Chaz said rolling his eyes and held up a crude drawing of Tina weeping in front of Barrage and Chaz's voice took on a poor imitation of hers. "Oh, Principal Barrage, please bring Chaz back; he's so studly and smoking hot, I can't bear to be without him-_ow!_" he cried out and shielded himself from a red-faced Tina as she smacked him with the news report papers before settling back in her chair.

"_Anyway_," she said in annoyance, "all students are to head to the auditorium for a mandatory assembly."

The students all made their way from the class to the auditorium and Holger and Lee looked around at the surprisingly crowded room and saw Cam waving.

"Homes, over here, I saved you a spot dude!" Cam said and noticed Lee standing behind Holger and crossed his arms. "Oh, you're with _her_," he laid his arms out over the chairs, "well forget about it."

"Feeling guilty?" Lee crossed her arms. "Well you should Mr. 'I'm going to break up my best friend and her boyfriend,' I have your shoe prints in potato flakes-just admit your Radcircles!"

"Oh man, this again?!" Cam asked irritated. "Holg, back me up, bro!"

"Holger would love to be even svenson, but Holger not want to be around when Lee's kissy bog-boy come to bash Cam into gernutklen!" Holger said looking around nervously.

"Biffy's gonna what?" Cam's eyes widened and he looked accusingly at Lee. "What's you tell him?"

Before she could retort, Barrage arrived on the scene and pulled the microwave up. "Every year, election week lets students turn the school into their own personal Christmas tree, but this year, election _week_ is election _day;_ if you don't like it, go cry to your momma's!"

The place was silent for a moment before Irwin stood up imperiously. "I nominate Beth."

The girl with the retainers stood up giddily. "Thank, thanks!" she said and spit went flying everywhere. "If I'm elected, I promise a wizard theme prom."

A lone geek shouted 'yay' before sitting back down.

The next moment Kimmie stood up. "I'd like to nominate Chameleon-" she paused as she was given the correct name- "Camillio Martinez."

"Me?!" Cam repeated.

"Him?!" Lee added her won two cents in.

"Really? Aw, shucks you guys…" Cam said standing up on his chair and called out to everyone in the auditorium. "Okay everybody, when I say 'Cam,' you say 'illio. Cam-"

"-illio!" Everyone yelled.

Cam grinned. "I can't _hear you!"_

"Illio!" Everyone yelled louder.

"I-ewww-llo!" Lee crowed out and face palmed as Cam looked at her with a frown and some of the other students chuckled. "Oh great, I've been reduced to _this_ now. Nothing could be worse."

"Then I throw nomination hat for Lee Ping!" Holger shouted.

"Holger, no!" Lee shouted in mortification. "I can't have this attention on me and Biffy right now." she whispered to herself before she addressed everyone. "I'm flattered by the nomination, but I'd like to retract my name."

"Denied!" Barrage shouted.

"What?!" Lee shouted back. "Why not?"

"Because that would make you happy and I like to do the exact opposite." Barrage replied. "Cause that would make me happy! So, the choices for class president are; Beth, Cam, and Lee Ping. What a soppy bunch of sippidity sad sacks!"

After the assembly was let out, Lee glared up at Holger. "Holg, what were you _thinking?_" Lee questioned her friend. "Of _all_ days, why did you pick _today_ to nominate me for presidential elections? If there's one thing to cut into mine and Biffy's time it's _this_." She said and gestured about vaguely at the school. "I lucked out with VP Victoria, but how can I sneak around with him when everyone's going to be watching me like a hawk?"

"It not fair to only help Cam, it must be all even, and then no one gets the upper finger, jah?" Holger said simply.

"Look guys," Cam called out, "it's the future _non_-class prez."

"Speaking of people getting the upper finger," Lee muttered to herself before her voice grew louder, "you know, I'm sorta glad you're running for President."

"You are?" Cam asked confused.

"Yeah." Lee said smiling evilly. "No you'll have too many witnesses for Biffy to cream you for what you did!"

Cam looked around nervously before catching sight of Biff glaring at him and cracking his knuckles. He cringed and hid fearfully behind Brandy.

"Hey, just because you're gonna be school prez doesn't mean you can touch me!" she said indignantly.

After they left, Tina showed up out of breath. "Lee, I have good news about the election!"

"I'm not actually gonna run." Lee told Tina.

"You will after I tell you this; I checked the school charter, and whoever is School President can't get detention!" Tina explained.

"Wait, if I win elections I can't get detentions?" Lee repeated just to make sure she heard that right.

Tina smiled. "Yep."

Lee couldn't help but grin. "Oh, Tina." she said hugging her friends tightly and caused the other girl to laugh. "You're the best. And I'm so glad you got together with Brad," she looked to the side briefly as a strained smile appeared on her lips, "though too bad about Chaz though, since he's got a crush on you."

"Wait, what?" Tina asked in shock and her eyes went wide.

Lee bit her lip. "Uhh…oops?"

Tina pulled herself from the hug and rubbed her head, but kept on hand on Lee's arm to balance herself. "I…I gotta walk this off."

_'Damn it. How I could just let that slip out?'_ Lee scolded herself. _'And Chaz told me that in confidence, though granted he was high on hair spray and though I was still a boy, but still!'_ she turned to look at Holger, who was by her side. "Oh this is bad."

Holger scratched his head in confusion. "But why?"

"Because this is high school, and someone knowing you like them is the _worst_ thing!" Lee replied and she could see this wasn't sinking in. "You gotta play it cool."

Holger looked thunderstruck and nodded, eyes going wide as Greta passed them, waggling her uni-bow at him. Holger responded by crossing his arms and looked away in disinterest. Greta's expression turned to shock before hurt and anger set in and she rushed off quickly.

Holger looked after her in horror and reached as he hurried after her. "No, I was just playing the cool!"

Lee thought over what she had said before slapping herself on the forehead. "Damn it again, that's the _boy's_ version, girl's like straightforwardness." She said to herself and blushed at who had made the first move in her and Biff's relationship after all. Her phone went off and she looked at the text. "It looks like the race for school prez is on, too bad you don't have a chance." She scowled at her phone. "Oh yeah? Well see about that, _Cam_."

The bell rang overhead and she hurried off to her next class and it's not long before her phone rings to a familiar tune. "Radcircles!" she hissed and read his text. "Wait 'till you see this…see what?" she muttered and looked up at the television in her class as it turned on.

"Lee Ping is a tramp."

"_What_?!" Lee shouted and ignored the looks she was getting as a strange mix of horror and indignation overtook her.

"Hi, I'm Dickie Andrews. You know, I grew up in this town, and we need a moral, upstanding school president. Someone we can trust. Well, a lot of nasty things may be said during this campaign, but pictures are better than words, because some words are big and hard to understand. But here's something everyone can understand. Do you really want your school president to be _this?"_ A variety of pictures showed Lee in completely innocent situations with her dragging Cam into the girl's room, the kiss with Biff in front of the school bus, and using Holger as a hiding place at Brad's pool party.

Then Brandy's voice came over the television. "Paid for by the Camillio Martinez for school board president committee; sorry Lee."

All through the thing, Lee's expression hadn't changed, nor did it when she was getting looks of disgust and interest. Her eye ticked and she got _angry_. "Alright Radcircles," she hissed quietly and started typing on her phone, "_two_ can at that game."

* * *

Lee walked into lunch detention with a mask of indifference on her face as she tried to sort of the emotions coursing through her, all of them unpleasant for her to deal with at the moment. The murderous rage though actually kind of scared her.

"What happened to you?" Biff asked.

Lee sighed. "Kimmie happened; she dug up all those scenes for the campaign news to make me look like I'm some kind of tramp."

"She did what?" Biff growled. "Why that lousy no good…see if I _ever_ knit her a doggy hat."

"A what?" Lee deadpanned.

"I sometimes like to knit things for people I've grown close to…" Biff said somewhat awkwardly and Lee latched onto the indignation while pushing everything aside and crossed her arms with a pout.

"You never knitted _me_ anything." She huffed.

Biff grinned and pulled Lee close before leaning down to place a kiss on her lips and pulled away with a smirk. "Which would you prefer, a hat, or that?"

Lee felt something else take over and her eyes shined. "_That_!" she said and scolded herself for sounding like a hormone crazed teenager at that moment.

"And as for Kimmie, I'll show her who's better at stuff." Biff said and jerked his thumb at himself. "Meet your new campaign manager, babe! So what are we gonna attack first? Cam's 'stinky feet,' or his fake 'gangsta persona?'"

Lee grinned, but her mood went right back to zero when she realized she couldn't leave the room. "Neither, since I'm in here and the Meet and Greet is in the cafeteria."

"Leave that to Big Daddy!" Biff replied and tapped his fingers together.

"What…? Big Daddy?" Lee snickered before staring at his hands. "What are you doing?"

"Strategizing. Some people have finger taps, I have evil genius finger taps." Biff said.

Lee shook her head with a smile. "Remind me again, why do I like you?" she asked with anticipation in her eyes.

Biff smiled back at her. "Gladly."

* * *

After setting up a computer, and getting Holger to wheel it into the cafeteria, Lee looked around the room with a determined glint in her eyes. "All in favor of no teacher Fridays, a ban on detention and all day sloppy joes, say Lee."

"Lee!" The other students chanted.

Cam walked over and glared at her. "Okay first thing, chanting is _my_ thing. Secondly, no teacher Fridays? _Come on_, that's never gonna happen! Lee's a liar, hey everyone, Lee's a liar!" he said pointing at the screen.

Lee looked over at Biffy. "Cue the ad." She whispered and when it was over, she high-fived Biff.

"Nailed it!" he shouted.

* * *

"That was _low_ Chica, a sleepover picture? Those are off-limits, man!" Cam shouted at Lee.

Lee glowered at him. "Are you serious telling me this off-limits after that smear campaign about me being a tramp?"

Cam frowned. "For that AD I told Kimmie not to attack your 'feminine nature' and just to target your pranking and intelligence from now on."

"Is that actually supposed to make me feel better?!" Lee snapped before leaning in menacingly and her voice was above little more than a whisper. "And if everyone remembers seeing that picture of me and Biffy, I will _destroy you!"_ she hissed angrily.

By the corner of the hallway, away from the other students, Biff tapped his fingers together when a blonde walked up behind him.

"So you're the oversized man behind the woman mistaken for a man, huh?"

Biff looked over his shoulder at Kimmie. "How'd you know?"

The blonde chuckled. "Easy-peasey-snap and easy." She said snapping her fingers to emphasize her point. "You're doing your evil genius finger tap."

Looking down at his hands, Biff realized he had given himself away before putting his hands behind his back. "Yeah, well, you've got some nerve showing your face around here after _that_ slander against Lee. What she'd ever do you?"

"Are you serious?" Kimmie replied. "She didn't do anything, except get nominated for president, and no offence to your cutie pie girlfriend, but my man Cam is gonna win this election. Sure saying that Lee was a tramp is over the top, and Andrews will answer for it. But everything else about Lee _will_ be subjected to ridicule and _is_ going to be exploited to win this election…do I still have your attention or did I lose you somewhere?"

Biff let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, but one more crack about her being loose and there'll be a crack upside your face!"

Kimmie chuckled at the threat before turning on her heel and raised her voice so everyone could hear her clearly. "No, I don't know where you should take your girlfriend Lee Ping out to, why don't you ask her?!"

Biff scowled and flushed slightly as he saw the stares being directed at him and the snickering that followed, but his eyes made contact with Lee's and the redhead's own face was redder than his was. He made his way out of the hall and tried to get his emotions under control.

The television in the hallway lit up and Tina beamed at the camera. "Early election polls are in and Lee is leading by _one_ percent point. But it's not over 'til the debates at 4:15. So be there or…"

"Or to be fair, no one's listening to you, Tina." Chaz cut in. "They're just staring at your face, not that I can blame them…" Tina blushed, but tried to shove him away. "Come on, Tina. Why deny it? You got me back on the air because you've got the hots for me. I know, you know-gah!"

Tina finally managed to shove Chaz off his chair and huffed as her lips tightened and neatly stacked the papers in her hand while her face was red with annoyance.

* * *

Lee peered about the gym thoughtfully. "I would have to say the favorite thing about the school is…"

"Yeah, yeah!" Cam interjected. "We all know what _your_ fave thing about school is…Biffy T. Goldstein!"

Lee froze in place, too much in shock to react and saw Tina gasp in horror while placing a hand on her mouth in sympathy while Chaz snickered and the audience 'ohhh'ed in amazement, though in the back of Lee's mind, were they really so surprised? She was only surprised because Cam just outed her to the school!

"This just in: a human being _actually_ likes Biffy Goldstein, and it's female!" Chaz said and looked toward the audience mockingly. "Congratulations-ow!" he fell to the ground as Tina roughly kicked him from under the table and growled at him through gritted teeth and put her hands over her microphone so no one else could hear her but Chaz. "You're _not_ helping!"

Lee saw Cam pull something out from his podium and she realized it was her journal. "Exhibit A: a page from Lee's journal." He said and the page was littered with things for when Lee divulged in her private thoughts about her and Biff. On the page was a particularly incriminating piece of evidence of a heart with Lee/Biffy drawn inside it. "Oh! Oh! What's the matter? Biffy got your tongue?"

Lee was only broken out of mortifying horror when she saw Biffy walk up to the microphone, his face stormy as he glared at Cam before smiling at her.

"Remember your favorite thing about the school? That _sundae_ sauce we talked about earlier, huh?" he asked and Lee slowly smiled back.

"Oh yeah, before Camillio so rudely cut me off, I was gonna say my favorite thing about school was going to the caf and getting a bowl of ice cream and loading up with lots of _butterscotch."_

"Hey, watch the hair! I already had the touch ups and the hair is to perfection!" Chaz yelled as Cam jumped on him.

"Cam, leave his glorious mane alone!" Tina shouted and blushed when she realized what she had said and slapped a hand over her face as Cam hopped off Chaz. "I…that is…ugh! Never mind!"

Lee watched Cam climb all the way to the top of the rafters and was amused until Holger shouted into the microphone, "Lee Ping, do something or Cam is to cafflufershank!"

Lee's eyes widened. "No! Plan B, plan b," she said to herself and pulled a retainer out of her pocket. "Beth, you're finally useful." She said before running over to a sandbag and using the 'retainer' to slice through the rope. "Hang on, Cam, I'm on my way." She said and once the rope was cut, she was lifted off the ground and landed on the rafters.

"You two get down here this minute!" Barrage yelled up at them. "This is a direct order!"

"Okay Radcircles, this ends now." Lee said and Cam ran at her then went past her to grab a sack and mimicked like he was dumping the empty contents out and the realization hit Lee like a slap across the face. "Wait a second, of course, someone must have put Cam under hypnosis during the prank, that's why he's doing this and doesn't remember. What have I done? Queen of Hearts!"

Cam's monkey sounds turned back into his own. "What am I doing here? And why am I craving bananas?"

"Fine," Barrage yelled up at them, "if you won't come down, voting starts now!"

Cam got off the rail and glared at Lee. "_You_ did this!"

"Cam, I made a huge mistake, I'm-" As Lee reached out, Cam pulled back.

"Get your hands off me!" he said and slipped on the leftover prank on the plank and fell over, Lee quickly leaping forward to grab his hand.

"Cam, I was wrong, you were hypnotized during the prank, that's why you don't' remember being up here!"

"What? So…so dude, you believe me?" Cam asked hopefully.

Lee felt Cam's hands slip out of hers and she looked on in horror. "Cam!" she yelled and saw him bounce up on his presidency banner and slammed into her with enough force to send them both to the ground, the secure rope Lee had tied around herself kept them from making a splat on the stage.

"I did not see that coming." Cam said.

Lee smiled shakily as she untied the rope. "Really, this is exactly how I thought the debates would end."

"Well the winner is," Barrage said holding up the clipboard, "Camillio."

Cam smiled at Lee as the cheering started and she saluted him before Kimmie made her way on stage. "That monkey stuff was genius. I knew you were cut out for politics, the first order as prez is passing that pep thing around, kay?"

"Yay, I'll get right on that." Cam replied.

Tina walked over to Lee, her face open and serious. "So, you're really serious about Biffy, huh?"

Lee blushed and rubbed her arm. "You don't think anyone took that seriously, do you?"

"You really care about him, don't you Lee?" Tina questioned back softly.

Lee smiled slightly. "Yeah, I do, and he likes me, or else why would he have stuck around for this long if he didn't?"

Tina shook her head and chuckled. "I may not know what _is_ you see in him, but it has to be something special for you to wanna go against your parents for him." she said and Lee looked down at her feet. "But, maybe I can convince everyone with Cam's help that he was just trying to hype things up and discredit you…" she continued and nodded in Biff's direction. "Since I'm not _quite_ sure your boyfriend's ready for everyone to keep on remembering that you and he are a thing."

Lee looked up and over at Biffy, who was shifting awkwardly on his feet and her smiled widened a little bit more. "I suppose not, but even if a bus full of students couldn't remember, then I'm sure they'll forget all about this."

"Well, you better hope your mother never finds out about you two then." Tina said offhanded, but turned on her heel and completely missed the horror stricken look on Lee's face as she paled.

"No! I will not kiss you, Kimmie! I already _have_ a girlfriend!"

Lee looked over, as everyone else had, at Biff's shout, as he walked away from a stunned Kimmie and winked at her. Lee felt the horror fade away and chuckled quietly. _'So he didn't say my name, but it was damn close to it.'_ She thought and made her own way out of the gym after him.

* * *

"You two have a good thing going on…it's weird and bizarre, but good and you didn't need that Radcircles maljeto interfering." Cam said. "So when do we get back at Radcircles, Chica? He's gonna pay for messing with my home girl…"

The image of Cam was gone and replaced with Radcircles. "Knock, knock."

"Whoa, Radcircles?" Lee whispered.

"You're supposed to say, 'who's there?' and I'd say 'Camillio." Radcircles replied.

"Enough with the games, I know you're not Cam." Lee retorted. "Who are you?"

"Well if you're so sure, you should have said 'who's there?'" Radcircles said.

"Who's there?" Lee gritted out.

"Too."

Lee's brow furrowed. "Too, who?"

"Too late, better luck next time!" Radcircles chuckled and the webchat video went off.

Lee scowled at her computer screen. "Man, I really hate that guy!"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Though it had been slow to get Cam to really trust her again, Lee did succeed and they went back to getting rides to school in her mom's SUV, though on this particular morning Holger was running along-side the car.

"What's wrong with your friend?" Mrs. Ping asked noticing Holger, "we could give him a ride."

"Sorry Mrs. P, now that I'm the school's El Presidente, Holger's gone all protective and secret service-like; it's kind of cool though." Cam replied and Mrs. Ping started singing along with the song on the radio, causing Lee to shrug as Cam looked at her.

She took her phone out of her pocket and held it up in front of him. "Hey, check out this picture I found-"

"Oh, yo! You're tenth birthday man!" Cam said and paused. "Wait, I can't remember that one."

"That's cause this guy hypnotized you." Lee said pointing at Finnwich. "The Amazing Finnwich; side note, it was really funny." She said chuckling. "At one point you thought you were a monkey, then a ballerina-"

"Okay, okay!" Cam said cutting her off. "Forget that, El Presidente doesn't need to be reminded of such things, okay? We need to find out who brainwashed me, yo."

"Well, the hypnotist guy has vanished, like, gonzo." Lee said.

Holger knocked on the window out of breath. "Water! Water!" he wheezed and Cam gave him the bottle of water he had.

"Well what about the other people at the party?" Cam questioned after Holger seemed okay. "_They_ must know the brainwashing words, am I right?"

They both looked down at the photo of the three other kids in the photo and soon they found the same three standing outside the school. "There they are, the Outcasts." She said.

"Man I can't believe you invited them to your _birthday_ yo." Cam said incredulously.

"Hey, I was new in school." Lee retorted. "And plus, they were cool…once."

Holger nearly slumped over as he opened the door. "Mr. El Presidente, your path…is clear." He said and after Cam and Lee got out of the SUV, he fell to the floor.

"There's the leader, Lou Black, chronic thumb sucker." Lee thought out loud.

"Dude even _eats_ with his thumb in there; that takes like mad skill yo." Cam added.

"Deuce Markowitz; eater of all things totally gross." Lee said grimacing.

"I once saw him suck a snail right out of it's shell." Cam added.

"And lastly, Jenny Jergens, chronic nose…" Lee trailed off and her grimace widened, "_yeeah_, she just likes to keep it there sometimes for no particular reason."

"So…one of them like either hypnotized me or is helping whoever did, right? Oh! Oh! I'm _so_ gonna find out who and _why_, _dude_." Cam said angrily.

Lee looked down at him surprised. "Wow, you sound like…me."

"Lock it in, bro, and let's go to work." Cam said holding out his fist.

Lee smiled at him and they fist bumped.

* * *

"Okay dude-a-chinos, I'm totally going Lee Ping on this," Lee raised a brow and Cam flushed momentarily, "in the way that I'm a boy version."

"There you go." Lee said teasingly.

"Well, I'm gonna infiltrate the Outcasts, the whole whisker thing is my in," Cam continued and his expression was serious, "no one, _no one_ messes with this." He said pointing at his head.

Lee felt something grip the back of her shirt. "Gah!" she shouted as she was pulled back and Barrage held her up by her shirt.

"You're late, private!" he shouted.

"I was just-" Lee stuttered.

"Eyebot!" Barrage called and that robotic eye appeared. "Ping, detention, now!"

Lee was released and the robot followed her to make sure she got to the detention room. She looked around the empty room with a pout on her face. Looked like Biff wasn't going to be in here today, but then again she didn't like the fact he had to get _detention_ just so they could spend a few hours of the day together.

* * *

After changing into her gym clothes and slipped on an ear piece to await Cam's call, she and the rest of the class played volleyball. She heard Cam's voice in her ear as she anxiously waited for when the volleyball came at her and when it was over the net she adjusted the ear piece. "You didn't ask them anything yet?" she asked breathlessly and suddenly felt a pounding on her head from the volley ball connecting with her forehead and bouncing off.

She swore she could hear _laughing _in the background and shook off the pain with a glare around the gym.

The teacher blew his whistle. "Less face more hands, Ping!"

"_Nah_," Came Cam's voice, "_just doing some research on 'em. Finding an opening, going in for the kill, you know; _Ping_ styles."_

"Find anything?" Lee questioned.

_"These guys were like epically popular back in the day, bro."_ Cam replied and Lee hit the ball back over the net. _"Hang with the older kids, winning sports awards,"_ he continued and let out a drawn out gasp, _"I think one dated a Chiquitaleader."_

Lee rolled her eyes before she looked thoughtful. "I remember, then all of a sudden-"

_"Instant losers! With a capital Lou, oh, Lee, I told the Outcasts that you're gonna help catch the Tazz and snag a whisker after school; okay bye!"_ Cam said hastily and heard the line go dead.

Lee felt frozen in her spot at the thought of actually going to _look_ for the school mascot. "Catch the Tatzelwurm, are you crazy-" she grunted as she felt a particularly hard volley hit her in the face and sent her flying off her feet. "Ohhh." She groaned and her eyes narrowed as she thought of payback.

_That_ one _hurt._

* * *

When her detention rolled around, Lee saw Biff and felt torn between happy and sad at seeing him, but caught sight of his painting and she grinned at him. "Hey, you can find like absolutely anything, right?"

"More or less, why?" Biff questioned.

"I'm trying to find a mysterious hypnotist named The Amazing Finnwich." Lee replied.

"I'll see what I can do but my artistic muse is kinda calling right now." Biff said and Mrs. Rumple meowed.

Lee decided it was better not to disturb him anymore and she pushed a chair over to the vent and was about to go up when Biff approached her.

"Ah, don't forget to sink it up, baby." He said holding out his phone.

Lee blushed as she _did_ forget that. "How could I forget?" she asked sarcastically and they linked their phones up, but before going into the vent, she leaned over and kissed him briefly and winked at him. Lee crawled through the vent and looked down at her phone to see where Cam wanted them to meet and she grimaced at the thought of going into the boy's bathroom again. Hadn't once been enough? She heard the distant voices growing louder and pushed the vent open and looked down at the group before her, the Outcasts at one side and Cam and Holger on the other.

"Whoa, she came out of the vent just like you said!" Lou said amazed.

"Okay gang, time to go Tazz hunting. " Jenny said pounding her fist in her palm as Lee jumped out of the vent and landed on the floor.

"So what now?" Deuce asked and Lee looked at him strangely.

"Huh? Seriously, you mean you guys don't even have a plan?" Lee asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Cam said embarrassedly and Lee looked over at him, "I kinda, might've told you might've could've figured that part out too." He said and walked over to her before he lowered his voice. "So, Lee for real, can you help or what man?"

Lee let out a frustrated grunt. "Fine. How about some food as bait? Who's got something?"

"That's a stick." Cam said as Deuce pulled out a brown twig before the other boy shrugged and ate it. Cam started sniffing and looked at Holger and pulled a sandwich of some kind out of his pocket.

Holger let out a startled sound. "Oh my cafluegen wrap. It is traditional dish made from emu innards wvoodchips!" he cried as Cam tossed it into the vent.

"Now what?" Jenny asked.

Lee shrugged. "We wait."

"Well, might as well wait with a clean thumb." Lou said turning on the tap.

"Gotta be stealth about this," Lee whispered to Cam, "who's to say you can trust these guys?" she asked and they both walked over to Lou. "Say, Lou, I was thinking the other day about The Amazing Finnwich, remember him?"

"Come on, we ain't got all day pal!" Cam suddenly yelled and grabbed a hold of Lou's wrist.

"My thumb!" Lou exclaimed and Cam pushed his face back when he tried to grasp his thumb. "Cam, what are you doing?"

"Lee's tenth birthday party, you were there, you know about the trigger words." Cam growled and Lee pushed them apart.

"Cam, chill." She said.

"Your tenth birthday part? Isn't that the week I went temporarily deaf?" Lou said. "Pretty sure my ears were stuffed with cotton."

Lee took out her phone and the picture of her tenth birthday party came up and both she and Cam looked at the cotton sticking out of the younger Lou's ears. "Wasn't him." she said flatly and frowned. "If he couldn't hear the trigger words, how could he pass 'em on?"

"Right, so which one of them did it?" Cam questioned pointing his thumb in the direction of Jenny and Deuce.

"_Red alert, Barrage is heading to the bathroom, hide."_ Biff said over the phone.

"Barrage." Lee repeated and hurried over to one of the stalls and opened the door. "Quick, in here." She said and was the last one to go into the stall just as the rest room door barged open and pressed one finger to her lips to make sure they knew to keep quiet.

In the crack in the stall door a hiss sounded and a scaly hand grabbed the bait they were going to use. "The Tatzelwurm-!" Deuce shouted but a hand slapped on over his mouth.

Lee quickly hid behind Holger so she wouldn't get busted as Barrage pulled the stall door open. "Hi." Holger said innocently.

"What in tarnation is going on in here?" Barrage demanded.

"Well, you see, we um…" Deuce trailed off as he picked up a bit of toilet paper and started eating it.

"Wait a second," Cam said crossing his arms, "we're totally allowed to be in here. You gotta fight for your right to the use bathroom, yo."

"Oh yeah?" Barrage questioned. "Well what about _her?"_ he said pointing at Jenny and he reeled back when she stuck her finger up her nose. "Uh, just don't touch anything while you're in here, weirdo." He said and quickly retreated.

When Barrage was gone they all left the stall and walked under the vent where the Tatzelwurm had been. "I can't believe we missed the Tatzelwurm."

Lee put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "I have an idea, meet me in front of the library." She said before she climbed up the wall and back into the vent. She crawled through until she reached the vent outside the library and jumped down only after making sure no one was around. She looked over her shoulder and saw the small group coming up behind her and crashed into her. "Shh!" she hissed and gestured for them to follow her into the library.

The carefully walked through the aisle of book to avoid the Cleaners, but Lee had to push them all back when one came close to where they were. Lee looked around the shelf and Deuce looked around as well. "This is so cool, like were in a spy movie!"

"Shh!" Lee shushed again. She walked over to the wall where the secret passage was. "Okay, what I'm about to show you is a secret you can't tell _anyone_," she said seriously, "in return, I'll get you that whisker." She looked over the books until she found the particularly big green one and pulled it back, and then she used her key, causing the wall to slide to the side. She looked over her shoulder as she heard one of the Cleaners.

"Ohh."

"Ahh."

"So cool how that works." Lee said proudly. "Okay, let's go." She said and led them inside.

"Anybody gonna eat that gum on the ground?" Deuce asked they all went into the tunnel.

Lee stopped them as they came into a recognizable part of it. "Okay, this is where I've seen the Tatzelwurm hang out."

"So, where is it?" Lou asked taking his thumb out of his mouth.

"Maybe we should split up, there's lots of tunnel." Lee said. "I'll take Deuce," she pointed at Cam, "you take Jenny."

"And Holger protect El Presidente." Holger said.

"No, you take Lou." Lee corrected and her voice lowered. "We already know he didn't do it, you can hunt for your sandwich, big guy."

"Aye, aye," Holger saluted, "Operation: Get Back Sandwich in effect."

The six of the split up and Lee had to keep her eyes on the rocks scattered along the tunnel to avoid looking at what Deuce was now currently eating.

"Dried scab? I think it's elbow." He offered.

Lee felt faintly ill. "Uh, thanks, maybe later?" she paused for a moment. "You know eating odd things is kinda, well, gross?"

"Don't you think I know that? For some reason I can't stop." Deuce replied. "I never used to eat gross things until one day…and now…"

"Okay, no more, just tell me what you know about Butterscotch." Lee said and Deuce started to freak out.

"B-word, B-word, B-word!" he shouted covering his ears and Lee reeled back in surprise.

"Okay, what's going on?" she asked herself and her cell started to ring. "Hold that though." She added and placed her phone to her ear. "Yeah, Holg?"

_"We have found the wurm Tatzel!" _Holger said in a whisper.

"That Taz?" Lee repeated surprised. "Stay right there; keep your line open." She said and ran down the hall, grabbing a hold of Deuce's jacket to pull him along. "Just right around the corner!" she said and stopped suddenly at the sight of the Tatzelwurm hissing at them.

"Yo, heard screaming and-whoa!" Cam said as he and Jenny came into the tunnel. "Whoa, dude, you found it!"

"Get a whisker!" Jenny exclaimed.

"B-b-b-b…" Deuce sputtered and Jenny handed him a paper bag.

"What's wrong with him?" Cam asked.

"More of the curse, he gets freaked out by B-words, I guess he got bonus jinx or someth-" Jenny placed her hands over her mouth. "Oops."

"B-word, B-word, B-word!" Deuce shouted.

"So he could not have whispered you know what to me." Cam said quietly to Lee.

"Okay, seriously, get a whisker!" Jenny repeated.

The Tatzelwurm snarled and Lee started at that. "Okay, just keep cool, we don't wanna freak it out." She said and moved forward. "Hey there big guy, it's your old pal, Lee. I just need to…" she said and leaned down to grab a whisker carefully, but the mascot turned and slithered away down the corner.

"Hey." Jenny said and ran after the Tatzelwurm. "He's getting away!" she yelled and Lou and Deuce followed after her.

They ran down the hall and followed them into a room which Lee recognized. "The brainwashing room? What, they must have moved it."

"B-b-bp-word!" Deuce shouted.

Lee cringed and saw the Tatzelwurm behind a cart. "Calm down, you're freaking it ooout-ah!" she yelled as it lunged at them and Deuce fainted. "Ah!" she yelled again and saw it was going for the smaller tunnel in the room and she pushed Jenny out of the Tatzelwurm's path.

"What is this place?" Lou asked going over to the see through window.

"It a brain-" Lee stopped herself and glanced up at Deuce. "A…a room."

"I know it sounds crazy, but I think this is where I first started sucking my thumb." Lou said.

"Whoa, have we been here before?" Deuce asked walking over to a board on the side of the room. He ate one of the papers and froze, and both Lou and Jenny froze as well.

"Music, I remember music." Jenny said after a moment.

"It was all, techno-ey." Deuce added.

"The prank song." Lee said in realization. "You guys have been in here, haven't you? What do you remember about Butterscotch?"

"B-B-word!" Deuce called and Cam started to act like a monkey.

"Oh no!" Lee said.

"Make it stop!" Holger cried. "Bad monkey!" he yelled at Cam. "Go away!"

Cam scampered over to the cart in the room and scattered the papers on it.

"No!" Lee shouted. "No, Cam, wait. Queen of Hearts!" she said and Cam stopped.

"What just happened man?" he asked and rubbed his head.

"You don't wanna know." Lee replied and picked up one of the papers. "Tatzelwurm reprogramming." She read aloud and opened the file. "Hmm, maybe the blue ones weren't always evil." She looked up and saw Holger dragging Cam over to one of the table slabs.

"No more monkey!" he said.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Lee questioned and pushed Holger away. "Holger, no!" she exclaimed as the blond backed into a big red button beside the door into the brainwashing room.

"Oopsie doosie." Holger whispered as the alarm blared above them and the room behind him was sealed off with metal.

"Come on, this way." Lee said and they ran over to the tunnel the Tatzelwurm ran into, but she stopped suddenly. "The files!"

"Come on man, hurry!" Cam said from the tunnel entrance.

"But I dropped them." Lee said looking through the pile.

"Forget it dude, come on!" Cam said urgently.

"Where'd they go?" Lee questioned herself but stopped as she noticed a red material on one of them. "Tatzelwurm hairs?"

"Okay, come on!" Cam said. "Come one, come on!" he repeated and moved when Lee ran for the tunnel, the Cleaners rushing in just moments later.

The group walked through a larger, dark tunnel that was dripping at the sides. "Is that room responsible for all this? I mean, I wasn't always so weird! I was once, cool!"

"Yeah, we need that whisker!" Lou added.

"We'll get it, but before we do," Lee said and rushed to stand in front of them, "I really need to know; who here squealed to Radcircles? Unless, one of you _is_ Radcircles."

"Uh oh." Jenny said.

Lee looked accusing at her. "So it is you!"

"I meant that!" Jenny pointed behind Lee and she looked back to see blue Tatzelwurms coming into the tunnel.

"Blue Tatzelwurms." She whispered and remembered Barrage fighting with them. "Nobody move."

"What about blink?" Holger asked frightened. "Can I blink? My eyes, my eyes, there so very dry!"

The Tatzelwurms hissed and lunged at them. "Move! Fast!" Lee shouted and reached back to pull Holger with them. They ran until they were confronted with the red one. "The Taz!"

Holger bent down and picked up a sandwich. "The sandwich! Oh goodie!"

The red Tatzelwurm ran past them at the blue ones. "Run!" Lee yelled, but slowed her pace as she looked back to see the Tatzelwurm hiss at the blue ones. "Wait, he's helping us! I knew it, the red one isn't just a protector of sacred places, it's a protector of people too." She saw the blue ones rise up and hiss back. "Hey, leave him alone!" Lee shouted angrily, but as more of the blue ones showed up and lunged, she yelled and ran the other way. "Ahh!" she shouted and when she saw the others, she yelled, "Run! And never stop running!"

They all screamed as they ran from the blue ones and followed the red one through the tunnels and into a temple place.

"What is this place?" Lou asked looking around.

"You think we lost them?" Jenny asked and dozens of blue ones came out of the tunnels throughout the room.

"I'm gonna go with, uh, no." Cam said.

Lee took out her cell phone and called Biff. _"Oh hey, I was just about to call you."_ He said in greeting.

"Do you know where I am, I need a way out." Lee said.

"_Hey, you're right under the school. Specifically the cafeteria."_ Biff replied.

"The caf?" Lee repeated in disbelief.

"I thought I smelled mystery meat." Cam said and the pyramid started glowing. "Dude, that is sick, what is it?"

"It looks like they're protecting it." Lee said in regards to the blue ones.

_"Ah, dude, you've only got five minutes to get back to detention."_ Biff continued.

"Guys, need to find a way out now." Lee said urgently and the red one ran up the pyramid and hissed. "I think he wants us to follow it."

"Are you crazy, up that thing?" Lou asked incredulously and two blue ones hissed close by. "Follow me, gang!" he shouted and ran toward the pyramid.

They climbed to the top and the red one ran back down towards the blue ones.

"What do we do?" Cam asked.

"Handle!" Holger said grabbing the handle sticking to the top of the ceiling. He tugged but it wouldn't move. "It's stuck!" he cried and Cam helped him with it.

Lee let the two of them to get the ceiling to open as she slide down the side and stopped just short of the blue ones to help the red one fend off the blue ones.

"It's unstuck, bro!" Cam yelled as the top came down and they helped the others through the ceiling.

Lee kicked one of the blue ones back before she hurried back up to the top.

"A whisker, we need a whisker!" Lou called.

Lee narrowed her eyes in irritation. "I'll get it, just go!" she said before bringing the red fiber out of her pocket and hurried out of the tunnel, once reaching the cafeteria she pushed the man-hole cover over it.

"We need to tell somebody about this." Jenny said.

"I really think we need to keep this to ourselves until we know more." Lee said. "So do any of you know Radcircles? You remember anything about Cam being hypnotized?"

"Again? Rad what?" Jenny asked.

"Our table is right above that crazy generator, that's got to mean something." Deuce said.

"You guys, forgetting something?" Lee asked holding out the fiber.

"You got it, see, it's working already." Lou said.

"So, this whole thing, our secret, right?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, of course man, you helped us get our lives back, we won't be cursed anymore and got a whisker." Lou said.

_"I hate to bust up this beautiful greeting card moment, but uh, detention?"_ Biff reminded her.

Lee's eyes widened. "Guys, gotta, go, now!" she said and ran from the room. She ran as fast as she could and with seconds to literally spare, she arrive just before Barrage arrived and tried to remain innocent despite feeling exhausted.

"Dismissed!" Barrage yelled.

"Whew!" Lee sighed.

"Oh hey, about that Finnwich guy, if he did exist, he's a ghost, my websearch turned up zilch." Biff replied.

"That doesn't make any sense, I have his picture, how could he just disappear?" Lee questioned. She rose from her seat and for a moment she contemplated kissing her boyfriend goodbye, but decided she was too tired to start something right now.

* * *

"We still don't know how messed with my mind, dude." Cam said on the web video.

"I'm still gonna figure it all out, you just worry about being prez." Lee reassured her friend.

"Lights out." Lee's mother called as she turned off her light.

"Heh, later guys." Lee said and their videos disappeared and she picked up the picture of her birthday. "So nobody at the party told Radcircles about the trigger words." She said and the picture accidently fell to the floor. She gasped and picked it back up, but her eyes narrowed. "Wait a sec…Biffy?" she whispered and her eyes went wide, fear and disbelief starting to course through her. "He was there too? Strange, just got stranger. "


End file.
